A Waipahu man plead guilty today to murdering his father and injuring his mother in an attack with a hatchet, under a plea agreement approved in Circuit Court.

The 46-year-old Mark Kawakami plead guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder for attacking his parents with a hatchet at their Waipahu home. In exchange prosecutors dropped a terroristic threatening charge and attempted murder charge in the first degree.
Kawakami, a crystal methamphetamine user for 10 to 15 years, faces life in prison with the possibility of parole for murdering his father Sueo Kawakami, 79, and injuring his mother, Janet Kawakami, 79. He had said that he heard voices telling him he was “chicken” and to “do it.”
Since the Nov. 19, 2005, incident, Kawakami has been held at the Oçahu Community Correctional Center, said prosecuting attorney Kevin Takata.
Appearing in leg shackles, shorts and a T-shirt, Kawakami told Circuit Judge Randy Lee that he understood the agreement he signed. Kawakami has a history of mental illness dating to high school and earlier and had been seeing a psychiatrist. His mother, who was injured in the attack, also suffered from mental illness, Takata said. She died a year after the incident, but not from her injuries.
“He did have a history of mental problems, but admitted to smoking crack 12 hours before the incident,” Takata said. “We don’t dispute that he had mental issues, but 10 to 15 years of smoking ice has an impact.
The minimum penalty for the crime is 15 years when he is sentenced Oct. 13.
During the pre-dawn hours of the murder, the now, 47-year-old Kawakami had gotten into an argument with his dad who was in the living room of the house they shared. Apparently he retrieved a hatchet from his father’s car, went to his room and then heard the voices and attacked his parents in the living room. His mother suffered four cuts to the back of her neck, a broken neck and a fractured spine. His father died from head and brain injuries from the hatchet striking both sides of his head.
Kawakami’s criminal record includes a 1996 charge of abusing a household member, a brother. The charge was later amended to misdemeanor assault.