Boy charged in alleged plot to poison granddad
Advertiser Staff
LANA'I CITY, Lana'i — A 13-year-old boy accused of trying to poison his grandfather on three occasions in the past month has been charged with three counts of first-degree attempted murder.
The alleged murder plot came to light when the grandfather, 54, read the boy's diary and learned of the failed poisoning attempts, said Lt. Jon Jakubczak of the Maui Police Department Criminal Investigation Division. The diary also revealed the teen was going to try a more potent poison for the next attempt.
The eighth-grader, whose name was not released, had been sent to live with his grandfather last fall and apparently wanted to return to his mother on Maui, Jakubczak said.
The first alleged murder attempt occurred Dec. 21 when the boy reportedly sprayed insecticide on the man's medication. The man noticed the pills didn't smell right, so he didn't take them, Jakubczak said.
On Monday, the boy allegedly put battery acid in some coffee at the house, and when the grandfather and another man, 41, took a sip of the tainted beverage, they spit it out because it tasted peculiar, Jakubczak said. Neither was harmed.
The next day, the boy failed in another alleged attempt to put insecticide on his grandfather's medication.
The teen was arrested Wednesday afternoon and police searched the home and recovered the diary and related evidence, police said. The teen was taken to O'ahu on Thursday and detained at a facility for juveniles.
Adults convicted of first-degree attempted murder are subject to a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Juvenile offenders found responsible for the same crime who are not prosecuted as adults can be jailed until they turn 19.
Officials said it is rare in Hawai'i for someone as young as 13 to be charged with such a serious offense. Only three juveniles, two girls and a boy, ages 13 to 14, were charged with murder in the five-year period from 2000 to 2004, according to chief criminologist Paul Perrone of the state Department of the Attorney General.
The total for all juveniles under the age of 18 charged with murder during that same period was 14, an average of 2.8 per year.
