2nd hijack suspect still at large
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
Four days after a man hijacked a tour van with four visitors inside — including three children — police arrested the suspect as he was breaking into a pickup to steal a stereo, according to Circuit Court records.
Ricky K. Kenui, 35, was charged Sunday with first-degree robbery and vehicle theft in connection with the Jan. 18 hijacking of a tour van at Kahe Point Beach Park.
Kenui
His arrest occurred while he was in custody at O'ahu Community Correction Center, where he was being held on $5,000 bail while awaiting trial on a Jan. 22 car break-in charge.
In that case, a police officer reported catching Kenui in the act of stealing a stereo system out of a red pickup truck in the parking lot of the Wendy's restaurant on Kamehameha Highway in Wahiawa, court records show.
The officer, responding to a report of a vehicle break-in, said in a statement filed in District Court that he rolled up on the scene and saw a man leaning into a 1993 Nissan pickup.
The police officer said he watched as the man backed out of the truck with a car stereo in his hands with wires dangling from the back of the unit. The man placed the stereo on the seat of an older Mercury sedan with a cracked windshield that was parked next to the truck, the officer said in his statement.
Robbery detectives are requesting the public's help in finding the possible getaway driver in the Jan. 18 hijacking of a tour van. The man goes by the first name "Jacob" and is believed to be in his 30s, 5 feet 10, with a muscular build. He is homeless and may frequent Leeward O'ahu beaches. Anyone with information may call robbery Detective Bert Soria at 529-3357. Anonymous calls may be made to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on cellular phones.
He said he approached the man, who identified himself as Ricky Kenui and who claimed he owned the Mercury. Kenui also told the officer that his cousin owned the truck and had given him permission to be inside the truck, records show.
Police seek leads
The officer said he learned via police dispatch who owned the truck and contacted the owners, asking them to come to the parking lot. The two owners denied knowing Kenui and said they had not given him permission to enter the truck or to take anything from within it, the officer said.
Kenui was arrested at about 4 p.m. that afternoon. Kenui, who is homeless, could not post bail in the Wahiawa case and was held at O'ahu Community Correctional Center, where he was arrested Sunday in connection with the Jan. 18 van hijacking.
Police are still searching for a second man, who they believe drove a getaway car.
The van, belonging to Dolphin Excursions, was stolen after it stopped at the park, where the driver and three of the passengers got out to scan the sea for whales or dolphins.
A man from Fort Collins, Colo., was in the van along with three girls — two age 10 and the other 9 — from Santa Cruz, Calif. The girls were in Hawai'i to participate in a gymnastics meet.
Police said the hijacker threatened the passengers with a knife before letting them go a few minutes later.
Police Detective Letha De Caires said Kenui "was interviewed early on" as a possible suspect in the hijacking, at the time police were running down many other leads. As time passed, "it became more apparent" that he was the lead suspect, she said.
Bail for Kenui, who has no prior convictions, was set at $75,000 in the hijacking case, De Caires said. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the robbery and vehicle-theft charges.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-7412.
