"I told him, 'No, stop,' " she said, fighting back tears as she testified Thursday afternoon at a preliminary hearing in Wailuku District Court.

The assailant had his hand on her while she was against a wall and put his other hand down her shorts, telling her, "Let me feel you a bit."

She was able to escape only when her cousin, who had come to pick her up, called out to her.

The cousin said she had been waiting for the victim to come back from emptying the trash and called out, "Eh, honey I got your bag."

Based on the testimony, District Court Judge Simone Polak found probable cause for felony charges against Lorenzo "Niko" Clark, 37. The judge ordered him bound over to 2nd Circuit Court. She also maintained bail at $304,000 on charges of kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault, harassment by stalking, attempted first-degree sexual assault and third-degree sexual assault.

Clark is listed on the Hawaii sex offender registry, with convictions including sex with a minor in March 1997 in San Mateo, Calif. He reported being homeless in the Kahului area last December, according to the registry.

In the District Court hearing, the victim said Clark was repeatedly showing up at the Subway restaurant where she was working and began to make overt sexual suggestions to her, telling her he could be her "friend with benefits." She said she rejected his propositions over about a two-week period before the alleged incident May 8.

She said she had gone out of the Subway shop to throw away cardboard boxes and other garbage in a trash bin near the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage office at around 8 p.m.

As she was tossing the boxes, she said she saw Clark in front of her. He had been in the sandwich shop, but the victim said she did not see him follow her.

The woman said Clark then pushed her to the side of a trash bin and against the wall.

Pressing on her chest with one hand, he put his other hand down her shorts while opening his own pants and sexually assaulting her, she said.

She said she repeatedly told him to stop, but Clark only backed off from the assault when her cousin called out.

She said she struck at him and ran back into the restaurant, where she told another co-worker, Bridget Morondos, about the attack.

"I couldn't breathe. I was disgusted," the victim said.

The woman testified Clark tried to get back into the Subway restaurant, but Morondos held the door closed.

The victim said Clark initially made contact with her when he asked to bum a cigarette from her outside the shop. He then started going into the shop to talk to her, ordering food only twice, she said. The day of the incident, the victim said Clark had visited the restaurant several times.

She said she suffered a cut on her leg, but was not otherwise physically injured. The cousin said she was not working on the day of the attack, but had been waiting at the restaurant to give the victim a ride home. She said she saw Clark in the shop and saw him follow the victim when she took the trash out.

When she went outside the restaurant, the cousin said she saw the victim "pulling away from Niko" and saw that he had his pants open.

When Morondos called her into the restaurant to explain the situation, the cousin said she saw Clark standing at one of the restaurant doors "smiling and laughing."