Aki maintains innocence, asks girl's family for forgiveness
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
Christopher Aki tearfully denied that he killed 11-year-old Kahealani "Kahea" Indreginal before he was sentenced yesterday to a maximum 20 years in prison for his manslaughter conviction.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
But Aki, with his ankles shackled, his body trembling, expressed sorrow that the girl was killed.
Lehua Mamala-Tumbaga, left, Kahealani Indreginal's mother, and Tanya Guidry, her half sister, listen as Christopher Aki makes a statement in court. Guidry is the former girlfriend of Aki, who was convicted of manslaughter in May.
"I'm sorry she can never come back and be with you," Aki told members of the dead girl's family. "But I never put a hand against her, your daughter, your sister, your niece, your cousin. I hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me."
Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall, however, agreed with city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, who asked for the maximum sentence and urged the judge to deny Aki's request for probation and up to a year in jail or an eight-year prison term as a youthful offender.
"This is a tragic case," Crandall told Aki. "There are two families who have lost their children: Kahealani's family and your family.
"It is a case that demonstrates the havoc and destruction crystal methamphetamine is causing in our community."
The Hawai'i Paroling Authority will determine how much of the 20-year term Aki must serve before he is released on parole. Carlisle yesterday said he will ask the state parole board to have Aki serve the full sentence.
Aki, who turned 22 today, was accused of one of the island's most sensational and grisly crimes. He was charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of the 'Aiea Elementary School sixth-grader who disappeared from her Halawa neighborhood on Dec. 10, 2002. After a massive search, her body was found three days later off the 'Aiea Loop Trail.
A jury in May found Aki guilty of the lesser offense of manslaughter. If convicted of murder, he would have faced a life term with the possibility of parole.
Aki testified at the trial that he did not kill Kahealani and blamed her uncle for the slaying. He said that he took the girl to the park to confront the uncle about touching her inappropriately and that the uncle became enraged, took her down a trail and smashed her head repeatedly with a large rock.
Aki, boyfriend of Kahealani's older half sister at the time, testified that the uncle threatened to kill him and his family if he told the truth.
City prosecutors, however, argued that Aki acted alone, beat Kahealnai with a pipe despite her plea for him to stop, and left her to die.
At yesterday's sentencing, Aki's lawyer, Todd Eddins, a former deputy state public defender who recently went into private practice, again asserted that Aki did not kill the girl.
"This is the saddest case I've ever been involved in," Eddins said. "An innocent young girl is not with us today and an innocent young man is being sentenced for a crime he didn't commit."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Aki was charged with murder but found guilty by the jury of reckless manslaughter, which suggests the jury believed that Aki was guilty of "manslaughter by omission" for failing to render aid or to get help for Kahea after she was attacked, Eddins said.
Christopher Aki denied killing Kahealani Indreginal in a statement to the dead girl's family. "I never put a hand against her," he said.
"The jury heard the so-called confession," Eddins said. "If they believed he (did it), he would've been convicted of murder by commission."
Although Aki did not kill the girl, he blames himself for her death because he took her to the park, Eddins said. "He believes that had he not been so stupid to do what he did she would still be here," Eddins said.
Aki's mother, Patricia Aki, was allowed to make a statement and spent much of her time addressing the dead girl's friends and relatives.
"I don't believe for one minute that Chris was involved in murdering your daughter," Patricia Aki said. "Every day, my mother and my father and everyone involved feels the pain and the loss." She said Aki "fell away from the church" at one point in his life but now "knows where his eternal home will be."
"God loves you, Lehua. My family is praying for you," Patricia Aki said to the dead girl's mother. "Your loss is our loss."
Carlisle had earlier told Crandall that the "sole question" before her was whether Aki should be sentenced to "anything less than 20 years" given the possibility he could be paroled before serving the full term.
He described Kahealani Indreginal as the "epitome of innocence" and a young girl who was "battered, butchered and abandoned" on a hillside where she later died.
Carlisle urged Crandall not to place Aki on probation or sentence him to a reduced term of eight years as a youthful offender. He said Aki admitted to selling crystal methamphetamine, has a weapons charge pending against him in state court for an incident before Kahea's death, never had a real job as an adult and was given a "poor prognosis" in a pre-sentence report in terms of his desire or ability to rid himself of drug and alcohol abuse problems.
Although they did not testify, Carlisle had nearly two dozen of the girl's family members and relatives stand up, introduce themselves and say what their relationship was to Kahealani. Lehua Mamala-Tumbaga, Kahealani's mother, would not comment after the sentencing.
In summing up his argument, Carlisle said Kahealani Indreginal was "betrayed by someone she had been taught to trust."
"She trusted this individual and it cost her her life," Carlisle said.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
