Posted on: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Defendant says retailer slain in self-defense

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A man accused of fatally injuring a Waikiki store owner in a botched robbery attempt last year said in court yesterday that the store owner attacked him after he asked her to return an envelope filled with fake money.

Daiki Iba, 35, of Japan, took the stand in his own defense and said that he went to the Seawind Surf and Sea store on Royal Hawaiian Avenue on April 22, 2003, in the hope of converting 3 million in Japanese yen into U.S. currency.

Iba, charged with second-degree murder, said that he made a practice of carrying an envelope filled with strips of paper because he was robbed of $5,000 in cash in December 2002 after walking out of a Waikiki bank where he cashed a check.

The prosecution said Iba had hoped to trick store owner Michiko Sakata into giving him about $24,000 in exchange for three envelopes containing the worthless strips of paper, but Sakata demanded to see what was in the envelope.

When police arrived at the store, they found Iba on top of Sakata with his hands reaching toward her neck, according to the prosecution.

Sakata, 44, died three days later after being taken off life support.

Iba, who is claiming self-defense, said he told Sakata that he did not have the 3 million yen with him but would return with it later if Sakata would give him the same favorable exchange rate that Sakata's husband, Bobby, had offered the day before.

He said he told Michiko Sakata that he carried envelopes containing phony cash to guard against being robbed and that she asked to see the fake money. He said he retrieved one of the envelopes from his backpack, and she grabbed it out of his hand and thrust a wad of U.S. currency at his chest, telling him to hold it while she looked at the fake money.

Iba said Sakata's mood changed suddenly and she seemed "unhappy" at seeing the fake money. He said he followed her around to the owner's side of a display counter and that Sakata reached out, dug her fingernails into the side of his face, and threw him to the floor.

Testimony in the case is expected to end today.