WAIPAHU — A relative of five people arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in the severe beating of a Waipahu man on Friday said police accounts of the incident are inaccurate and that his siblings have been threatened with retaliation by the victim's family.

The victim, a 25-year-old man, was punched, kicked, hit with bottles and struck three times by a Jeep after asking for a cigarette, police said.

Police arrested six adults and a juvenile on charges of attempted murder. The adults arrested were Paulo Ioane, 20, of Kawaihuna Street; Jeremiah Leota, 26, of Pupupuhi Street; Jimmy Robinson, 19, of Pupuole Street; Ana Lealiiee, 45, of Pupuole Street; Eliza Lealiiee, 19, of Pupuole Street; and Jamel Leota, 25, of Pupupuhi Street.

The adults had not been charged as of yesterday. The minor, whom Kevin Kealiiee identified as his younger sister, is being held in a juvenile facility.

His mother, two sisters, two cousins and a man he identified as an uncle were among those arrested.

"What's come out in the media is not the real story," Kevin Kealiiee said yesterday. "For someone to get beat up just for asking for a cigarette is crazy. That's ridiculous."

Kealiiee, 17, said his mother, sisters and cousins — who are all Marshallese — were hanging out at a warehouse on Pupuole Place when the man, who lives in the area, approached and asked Kealiiee's cousin Jamel Leota, for a cigarette.

"He was drunk and he asked her in a very rude way," Kealiiee said. "People around here know him because he does that. He doesn't like Marshallese, so he demands cigarettes and if they don't give him, he threatens them."

Kealiiee said the man is Tongan.

Kealiiee said the man then initiated an altercation with Leota's boyfriend, Jimmy Robinson, the only male at the gathering. During the fray, Kealiiee alleged, the man struck Kealiiee's younger sister Eliza in the face.

"That's what set everything off," Kealiiee said. "My mom took action because my sister couldn't defend herself. What would you do if that was your daughter who got hit in the face? Of course you're going to flip out."

UNCLES IN JEEP

Kealiiee, who was at his nearby residence, said he ran over when he heard the disturbance. He said three of his uncles also arrived at the scene in a Jeep.

Kealiiee disputed police accounts that the victim was "run over" by the Jeep.

"He was in front of the Jeep and my uncle jerked it twice then got out," Kealiiee said.

Kealiiee alleged that members of the victim's family have since approached his younger sister and threatened to harm his older brother, who was not present at the incident.

"If I was stupid and mentally incompetent, I would go over and do something myself, but I just want to keep this from getting out of hand," Kealiiee said. "I don't want this to escalate into more violence."

Terrence Tanele, 20, who lives just up the road from where the beating occurred, alleged that the people in the Jeep were involved in another fight minutes before the incident at the warehouse.

According to Tanele, the men got into an altercation with a man driving a Chrysler Sebring.

"They got out of the Jeep and started beating on the guy," Tanele said. "The guy (in the Chrysler) reversed, banged my dad's (parked) car then drove up the street."

Tanele said the other men returned to their Jeep and sped in the direction of the warehouse.

Residents of the area say the incident was the latest in a series of altercations between Micronesians, Tongans and Samoans living in the low-income area known to area police as the "Pupus."

"It happens every weekend when they start drinking," said one resident, who did not want to be identified out of fear of possible retaliation. "You don't want to walk around here at night, especially alone. Guys who walk alone get chased off. They'll throw bottles or chase them off with boards."

The resident pointed to bare poles at each street corner.

"They've taken off all the street signs so it's harder to call in to the police and the police don't know where to go when they get here," the resident said. "That's the kind of place this is."