Slain girl's mom rebuts defense allegations
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
The mother of 11-year-old Kahealani "Kahea" Indreginal, who was killed in December 2002, said yesterday that the girl's uncle did not tell her that he was involved in the girl's death, as was alleged in recently filed court documents.
Christopher Aki, 21, is scheduled to go on trial March 30 on a murder charge in the beating of Kahealani, whose body was found off the 'Aiea Loop Trail on Dec. 13, 2002, three days after she was last seen at the Pu'uwai Momi public housing in Halawa, where she lived.
Prosecutors have maintained that Aki acted alone, but on Thursday, Aki's lawyer, state public defender Todd Eddins, filed a statement in court saying Aki will take the stand during his trial and claim that the girl's uncle, Dennis Cacatian, actually killed the girl in a fit of rage after she accused him of sexually assaulting her.
According to Eddins' statement, Lehua Tumbaga, the girl's mother, confronted Cacatian, her brother, at the 'Aiea post office about being involved in her daughter's death and Cacatian acknowledged that he played a part in it.
But when she was reached yesterday, Tumbaga denied that Cacatian told her that he was involved in the girl's death.
"He never said that," Tumbaga said.
She declined to say if the confrontation took place or to comment on other aspects of the case.
"We've been told not to say anything about it since it's going to court," she said.
Allegations that Cacatian is the girl's killer also came up in court Friday during a hearing before Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall.
Eddins told Crandall that Aki will claim that the girl's uncle killed her. Eddins also said that he wants the jury to know that Cacatian, whom Eddins did not identify by name during the hearing, was convicted of two counts of rape in 1979, because that would give credence to Aki's claims that Cacatian was sexually assaulting the girl.
City deputy prosecutor Glenn Kim strenuously objected to the jury being told of Cacatian's "25-year-old" rape convictions, saying they are not relevant.
When police homicide investigators raided Cacatian's 'Aiea home in February 2003, they found what appeared to be a pipe to smoke crystal methamphetamine, what looked to be packets of the drug and rifle magazines that could hold more that the legally allowed number of bullets, Kim said. But they did not find any evidence linking Cacatian to the girl's death, Kim said.
Crandall said she would rule on the matter sometime before the trial starts.
Cacatian, 42, meanwhile, is to be sentenced in federal court Monday in the case involving the illegal rifle magazines.
His lawyer in that case, federal deputy public defender Michael Weight, said Cacatian is "a very different man than he was in 1979."
He described Cacatian as a "hard-working construction worker" who has "four beautiful children" and a "spiritually very strong wife who believes in him to the max."
"That's why I have such difficulty in believing Mr. Aki's story," Weight said. "The Dennis Cacatian I see in my office has been out for a year on bail (on the federal gun charge) and has never been a problem. He presents himself in my office whenever I want him here, always stays in contact and is well thought of in his church. That's a far cry from what I see Mr. Aki saying about him."
Court records related to Cacatian's 1979 rape and burglary convictions paint a picture of a very troubled youth.
He was orphaned at age 6 when both of his parents died in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. He was brought up by various relatives, dropped out of Kahuku High School in the ninth grade, was turned over to the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center in December 1975 after several run-ins with the law and was committed to the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility in September 1978.
In February 1979, Family Court waived jurisdiction over Cacatian in connection with charges having to do with a series of rapes and burglaries that took place in Sunset Beach in late 1978 and early 1979.
In September 1979, a jury found Cacatian guilty of two counts of rape and two counts of burglary.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
