A 40-year-old man admitted in Circuit Court yesterday that he took an 8-year-old Wai'anae girl into the bushes and sexually assaulted her April 28.

Yomeo Eieta pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree sexual assault. Eieta, a native of Chuuk (Federated States of Micronesia), had been indicted on four counts of first-degree sexual assault, and one count each of third-degree sexual assault and kidnapping.

Circuit Judge Richard Pollack accepted Eieta's plea and found him guilty of the single count. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Eieta will face a mandatory 20-year prison term when Pollack sentences him on Sept. 26. In return, the prosecution agreed to drop the other counts.

The Hawai'i Paroling Authority will determine the minimum term that Eieta will have to serve before he is eligible for parole. Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, who prosecuted the case, said he will likely ask that Eieta serve the full 20 years.

Eieta was accused of approaching the girl outside the Wai'anae Neighborhood Community Center the evening of April 28, grabbing her arm and taking her to a vacant lot where he sexually assaulted her. Eieta was arrested two days later at the home of his sister, who lives near the victim's family.

Eieta, who said he does not read or write English, said little during yesterday's court proceedings. Through an interpreter, Eieta told Pollack that he "took the girl to the bushes" and sexually assaulted her.

Eieta also said he understood the terms of his plea agreement, and he twice asked the judge if he would be deported. Pollack told Eieta that it would be up to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to decide.

Three members of Eieta's family were in the courtroom yesterday and said they did not believe that Eieta fully understood the terms of the plea agreement. Biana Reian said her uncle is a "good person" who doesn't remember the events of April 28.

"The problem is my uncle doesn't understand English. I think that they forced him to plead guilty," Reian said. "My uncle told my mom that he doesn't know (what happened April 28) because he was drunk at that time. He doesn't remember anything. He doesn't remember what he was doing."

Ymao Akitekit, president of Micronesians United, said he spoke with Eieta just before yesterday's court hearing and that Eieta seemed "frightened." Akitekit agreed with Reian that Eieta did not understand the plea agreement.

"When we talked to (Eieta), he said, 'I have agreed with the decision because they said they would lessen my sentence. They told me I have to say I'm guilty because they can lessen my sentence,' " Akitekit said.

Akitekit said Eieta told him that because he was intoxicated, he does not know if he did what he was accused of doing.

"By that statement, I was thinking that he should be given time for more investigation on his behalf," Akitekit said. Eieta "was not given a fair chance to defend himself."

Deputy Public Defender William Jameson declined to comment yesterday.

Carlisle said the defense was given until July 20 to agree to the plea arrangement or go to trial. He said the agreement was "in the best interest" of the girl's family, which agreed to the plea arrangement.

"The longer you drag something like this out, the more traumatic it can be to the victim of this type of offense," Carlisle said. "We discussed the potential impact on the child of having to testify in front of a group of people, and it was their opinion that this was a resolution of the case that was acceptable to them."