About an hour after Royal Kaukani was shot as she sat in her car near her 'Ewa home, the man accused of her murder called his brother and an aunt, screaming over the phone that he had "shot her" and that he wanted to kill himself.

That was an account provided by a Honolulu police homicide detective in an affidavit filed in court in support of the arrest of Toi A. Nofoa. The 31-year-old Kalihi man is charged in the Tuesday shooting death of Kaukani, 25.

Nofoa made his initial court appearance yesterday on charges of first- and second-degree murder, as well as two firearms-related charges. He remains in custody on $4 million bail and is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.

Nofoa said nothing in court yesterday and was represented by a state deputy public defender.

Prosecutors charged Nofoa with first-degree murder because he allegedly killed a person who was scheduled to testify against him. Police said Kaukani was to have testified at Nofoa's trial on charges he kidnapped and threatened to kill her last September.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Nofoa would face a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The affidavit by homicide detective Sheryl Sunia portrayed Nofoa as an abusive, jealous man who terrorized Kaukani for more than two years and couldn't stand the thought of her with another man. The two met in 2002, became romantically involved in June 2006, and lived together from November 2006 to August 2008, said the affidavit, released yesterday.

On the morning of the shooting, Nofoa called an aunt in Sacramento, Calif., and told her that he saw Kaukani with a friend of his and that they "may have been holding hands," the affidavit said. The aunt told police that Nofoa "sounded disturbed" and said he "couldn't believe that she would do that."

The aunt told Nofoa to "just let her go" because they weren't dating anymore, the affidavit said.

Later that afternoon, however, Nofoa called the aunt again and also had his brother on the line. She said Nofoa was "screaming and crying and sounded like he couldn't breathe," according to the court document.

"Nofoa said words like 'he couldn't believe what he just did,' " the affidavit stated. "Nofoa told (his aunt and brother) ... that he shot her. Nofoa didn't say anything after that, he just kept crying and crying and breathing hard and said that he was going to kill himself."

At about 9:10 p.m., nearly seven hours after the shooting, police found Nofoa in a bedroom of a home at 41-702 Kalani'anaole Highway in Waimanalo.

He was arrested on two warrants totaling $76,000 and later booked in connection with Kaukani's death.

Police recovered a blue Suzuki motorcycle that resembled the one seen leaving the scene of the shooting. Investigators searching the Waimanalo home also found clothing and a motorcycle helmet that matched a witness description of the clothing worn by the man who shot Kaukani, the affidavit said.

WITNESS ACCOUNT

The affidavit said Kaukani was shot in her car on her way to her Kaukolu Street home in 'Ewa. Kaukani had been asked by a sister to watch two nieces who were coming home from school.

The affidavit provided a witness account of what happened next:

Kaukani was seen in her black Hummer, which was stopped on Kaukolu Way, about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday. A man was standing next to a parked motorcycle and talking to Kaukani through her front passenger window.

The witness then heard a loud "bang" and saw the barrel of a handgun, which was in the man's right hand. The man got into the vehicle through the right rear passenger door and about five minutes later, the witness said he heard another bang.

The witness looked over his wooden fence and saw a woman, identified as Kaukani, bleeding and lying on the road. The man got out of the Hummer through the left rear passenger door, put on a blue motorcycle helmet with a white stripe and drove away.

Kaukani was taken to Hawai'i Medical Center West and then transferred to The Queen's Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 9:30 p.m.

The shooting ended a stormy two-year relationship between Kaukani and Nofoa during which Kaukani obtained two restraining orders against Nofoa because of alleged threats and abuse.

On Sept. 11, 2008, Kaukani reported to police that her ex-boyfriend confronted her as she got off work at Ko Olina and asked her if she had a new boyfriend, the affidavit said. When she said yes, Nofoa grabbed her neck, pulled a black revolver out of a bag and shoved it to her neck as he forced her into his car, the affidavit said.

KIDNAPPING CASE

As he drove toward Hale'iwa, he repeatedly said he was going to "end her life and his too," the affidavit said. Kaukani managed to escape with the help of a gas station worker when Nofoa stopped to purchase liquor in Hale'iwa.

Nofoa was arrested and charged with kidnapping and terroristic threatening, but was released when he posted $75,000 bail. The criminal charges, however, did not stop the alleged abuse.

In February, Kaukani told police that Nofoa choked her until she was unconscious and cut her with a knife after she agreed to meet him at his brother's 'Aiea home. Police opened another terroristic threatening and abuse case.

On Feb. 20, Kaukani reported that Nofoa was harassing her on the phone. Five days later, she again told police that Nofoa repeatedly called her and that the calls were laced with swear words.

During one call, the affidavit said, a police officer overheard Nofoa saying that he would "shoot Kaukani in the head."

When Nofoa failed to appear at his March 5 court date on the September charges, a judge revoked his bail and issued two warrants for his arrest. But police did not capture Nofoa until the evening of the shooting.