Man accused of killing niece refuses to testify
By Peter Boylan and David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writers
The man accused by murder defendant Christopher Aki of killing 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal told the state judge this morning that he will exercise his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in Aki's trial.Dennis Cacatian told Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall of his decision with the jury out of the courtroom.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We don't know what the implications are yet," Jim Fulton, spokesman for the prosecuting attorney's office, said. "We don't know if he'll testify."
Christopher Aki testified yesterday that he lied about killing 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal out of fear.
Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall will make a ruling regarding Cacatian, Fulton said.
Cacatian, Kahealani's uncle, has denied any involvement in the girl's murder, but is being called by the defense as part of its case that he, and not Aki, murdered Kahealani.
Kahealani, an 'Aiea Elementary School sixth-grader, was last seen Dec. 10, 2002, near her family's apartment in the Pu'uwai Momi public housing complex in Halawa. Her body was found off the 'Aiea Loop Trail three days later.
Aki, 21, yesterday testified that he watched in horror as Kahealani was first stabbed, then beaten with a pipe and finally smashed in the face repeatedly with a large rock — all at the hands of Cacatian. Aki's testimony was the first time he spoke publicly about the slaying.
Calm and attentive and dressed in a gray long-sleeved shirt and dark trousers, Aki testified that he lied when he told police he had no idea what happened to the Kahealani, lied again when he implicated two of his friends in the girl's slaying and lied a third time when he falsely confessed to the crime.
But he testified that he told police he killed the girl because Cacatian, put a gun to his head and told him to keep quiet about the incident.
Aki acknowledged that he spent a large part of the day before the girl was killed smoking methamphetamine with two friends and that he told police about his meth use when he falsely confessed to the killing.
"It was a very easy possible answer for the detectives to accept," as to why the girl was killed, Aki said. "As soon as I said 'ice,' they clicked on that."
He said he thought police would realize he was fabricating a story.
"I thought they would figure it out without me giving Dennis up," Aki said.
Aki said the girl's mother dropped Kahealani off Monday night, Dec. 9, 2002, at his grandfather's house in Kalihi Valley where he lived with his grandparents and Kahea's halfsister Tanya Mamala-Tumbaga, Aki's girlfriend at the time and mother of his son.
He said Kahealani seemed troubled and eventually told him Cacatian had been "touching her."
"It was very emotional for her," Aki said.
He said he told her not to worry and that the touching "won't happen again."
"I was angry. It was clear to me that she didn't tell no one,"Aki said.
He said the girl's mother picked her up and that he spent a restless night trying to figure out how to resolve the problem.
He said he got up the next day and called Cacatian and arranged to meet him later that day. Aki said he picked up Kahealani after school near the housing complex and drove her straight to the state park at the top of 'Aiea Heights.
He said he found Cacatian's van in one of the parking lots and saw him inside, smoking methamphetamine with another man. He said Cacatian got out of the van and he confronted him about the girl's claims."He yelled for her to get out of my vehicle," Aki said. "He was angry, very angry. You could see the rage in his face."
He said Cacatian grabbed him by the shirt and swung him out of the way before leading the girl down a path. Five to seven minutes passed before he started to walk down the trail to see what was happening, Aki said.
"I could see Dennis looking straight at me with a knife in his hand. I could see Kahea lying down on her face," Aki said.
He said Cacatian ordered him to come down to where he was and to drag the girl's body farther down the slope.
"She had blood all over her neck. She wasn't moving, she wasn't making any sound. I knew she was dead right there," Aki said.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com and David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
