Posted on: Wednesday, January 29, 2003

Husband on trial in wife's slaying

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A man on trial for stabbing his wife to death in October 2001 was described by his brother-in-law in court yesterday as a quiet man who liked to sing karaoke songs.

Luisito Rigor said he was unaware of any problems between Florencio Garperio, 53, and his wife, Mercy, 47. Garperio, charged with second-degree murder, is accused of stabbing his wife within days of their moving into a new home on Bannister Street in Kalihi.

Rigor's wife is the sister of Mercy Garperio.

Rigor said Garperio told him shortly before the stabbing that Mercy Garperio was concerned that he had lost his job with a catering firm and could not pay the rent or have a large party the couple had planned for their daughter's seventh birthday.

Rigor said Garperio was laid off because fewer tourists were traveling to Hawai'i after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

City Prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado said he plans to call the Garperios' 17-year-old son as a witness when the trial resumes Thursday before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins.

Garperio's lawyer, Dale Bennett, said after yesterday's court session that he does not plan to dispute that Garperio stabbed his wife, but will argue that he was under extreme mental or emotional distress at the time.

If the jury agrees, they could find Garperio guilty of manslaughter instead of murder.