Wai'anae applauds girl's bravery

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

WAI'ANAE — Pearl Bautista said she clapped along with dozens of others Saturday night when police arrested her neighbor's 39-year-old brother in the rape and kidnapping of an 8-year-old girl in a vacant lot.

Eieta

Bautista, coordinator of Kau'iokalani housing's Neighborhood Security Watch, said the community's reaction was for the little girl.

Bautista said police brought the girl in a police SUV for a field lineup. The girl picked out Eieta as her attacker, according to a court document.

"We were clapping for her because it took a lot of courage and bravery to do what she did," Bautista said.

Eieta, a native of Chuuk (Federated States of Micronesia) who is unemployed, was charged yesterday with four counts of first-degree sex assault, one count of third-degree sex assault and kidnapping. His bail totals $150,000. Eieta was scheduled to appear today at District Court.

Eieta has no criminal record in Hawai'i, said police Detective Phillip Lavarias, the lead investigator.

It has been stressful in the Wai'anae community since the attack Thursday.

Parents had vowed to keep their children indoors until an arrest was made, and volunteers came out to patrol the 12-building housing complex off Farrington Highway.

According to a police affidavit filed yesterday at District Court, Eieta allegedly approached the girl who was waiting outside the front entrance to the Wai'anae Neighborhood Community Center for her grandmother and told her to sit next to him on a bench.

A short time later, he grabbed the girl's left arm and led her toward the vacant lot. He then carried her into the brush and assaulted her.

Police released a composite drawing by HPD artist Joseph Aragon to the media on Saturday. "Calls started coming in as soon as the sketch was seen," said Detective Lavarias.

Tips led police to Kau'iokalani, but by the time they arrived, residents who had seen the sketch already knew who authorities were looking for.

"I knew it was the person right next door to me," Bautista said, adding that police came to her No. 3 building at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

"They showed us a photo of someone else. We told them the person they were looking for was in 301. They surrounded the building and went in and found the person.

"They brought in the girl and had the lineup. The girl took her time. I felt for her because it had to be hard."

The girl made the identification from a sport utility vehicle, Bautista said.

The arrest took place at the residence of Eieta's sister. Asa Rebwak said yesterday her brother is homeless but had been staying with her, although she was not sure for how long.

Lavarias confirmed reports by residents that police returned to Rebwak's home Sunday night and recovered evidence but declined to comment on what was seized.

Rebwak said her brother came from Chuuk several years ago and that he sometimes stayed with her, her niece in Waipahu or her daughter in Punchbowl but that he didn't have a home.

On the night when the assault occurred, she recalled seeing him lying down in the living room. "I see nothing wrong," she said.

The assault occurred shortly before 9 p.m. under a kiawe tree in the vacant lot, a short distance away from the back window of Rebwak's home and across the street from the Wai'anae Neighborhood Community Center.

It has left residents shocked and angry.

"I'm disappointed," said Bautista, who with 16 others increased their neighborhood surveillance walks in the days following the attack.

"This is our island ... we don't do that to our children.

"I've never had problems with my neighbors until now," she added. "They've never done anything wrong. But it shows you, anything can happen and that we're all never safe. I think the lesson is parents should always know where their children are."

Nani Patcho, another Kau'iokalani resident, said, "I think we all feel angry and upset about it. We have problems in Wai'anae but not this kind of problem.

"If the law didn't come in, I think the neighborhood would have taken it into our hands," Patcho added. "What happened to the girl is sad and pitiful. She was in a pickup truck later with her grandma and I think she was crying."

Tammy Aguilar of Kau'iokalani said she continues to keep closer watch of her two young nieces.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before in this community," Aguilar said. "If it was my daughter, I'd kill him. People here are close to their kids; that's all we got."

The girl's uncle and other relatives went through Kau'iokalani looking for the attacker when they discovered what had happened.

"The uncle was yelling for whoever did it to come out," Aguilar said. "I wondered what was going on and he said someone had raped his niece."

The victim is receiving counseling at the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, Lavarias said.

William Stennit, director of the Department of Public Safety on Chuuk, said he has sent an e-mail to Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa outlining Eieta's criminal history, if any, on Chuuk.

Stennit said he could not release the information publicly and that his office had been asked by the governor of Chuuk to cooperate fully with the HPD.

Any release of the information sent to Correa would have to be released by Correa, Stennit said.

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.