Abused girl wakes from coma

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A 10-year-old Big Island girl who suffered severe child abuse that apparently included being tied up and burned with cigarettes and a lighter has emerged from a coma and is beginning to respond to her surroundings, according to a spokesman for the Department of Human Services.

The girl remains in critical condition at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, said Derick Dahilig, spokesman for DHS. Dahilig said he could not be more specific about the girl's condition because medical information is confidential.

The girl is not being identified by The Advertiser to protect her privacy.

Big Island paramedics were called to a home in the 'Ainaloa subdivision in Puna on Feb. 7, and found the girl suffering from numerous festering cuts and sores.

According to police affidavits filed in District Court, the girl had a cut on her head that was "decomposing and containing maggots." She also had injuries to her upper lip and other areas of her body that showed "signs of decomposition," according to the document.

Doctors said the marks on her body suggested she had been bound, and that "she had several areas of dead tissue about her body as a result of pressure ulcering (often called bedsores) and burns that appeared to be from a cigarette and cigarette lighter."

The girl also was suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition, with broken bones in her left hand and left foot, the doctor reported.

Doctors also told police the girl went into cardiac arrest at the hospital and had to be revived, according to the affidavit.

People who know the girl say her mother had shuttled her from caregiver to caregiver over many months. Police said she had been staying with a family at the 'Ainaloa home for about three months. She was not related to anyone in the home.

There have been no arrests in the case, police said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.