KAILUA-KONA —A District Court judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for the second suspect in an alleged 2016 rape at Old Kona Airport Park.
Samuel Latrik, 18, appeared Friday morning in District Court after a Family Court judge waived his charges to adult court proceedings Thursday. The teen was booked into jail on three counts of first-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, kidnapping, second-degree robbery and first-degree terroristic threatening after the Family Court hearing.
During Friday’s hearing, bail was maintained at $50,000 and a Marshallese interpreter was requested for the preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Despite Latrik being an adult, the alleged crime occurred when he was juvenile. Because of that, the case had to first be heard in Family Court.
Prosecutors filed multiple charges of sexual assault against another suspect, 17-year-old Tyron Sigrah, 17, in November after a Family Court judge granted a waiver of jurisdiction. In November, a District Court judge found there was probable cause during a preliminary hearing to continue the teen’s case to Circuit Court.
The charges stem from an incident that occurred Sept. 3, 2016. Hawaii police say two boys allegedly approached a woman, punched and sexually assaulted her. Police said the boys reportedly fled when confronted by an unidentified person.
A day after the incident, police arrested one suspect, a 15-year-old boy, later identified as Sigrah, who was released into his parents’ custody the same day, police said.
According to testimony during Sigrah’s preliminary hearing in November, retired detective Renee Morinaka, who was lead detective at the time of the incident, said Sigrah admitted to her he was at Old Kona Airport Park the night of the reported assault and he did approach a female and strike her once.
Sigrah faces three counts of first-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, kidnapping, second-degree robbery, first-degree terroristic threatening and third-degree sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty in December. A jury trial date has been set for April in Sigrah’s case.
Hawaii Police Department Lt. Rio Amon-Wilkins with the Juvenile Aid Section said Friday morning investigators were led to Latrik after Sigrah provided a first name and physical description.
After talking with people who knew Sigrah, Amon-Wilkins said, they were able to identify Latrik.
“It was good ol’ police work trying to track people down,” said Deputy Prosecutor Sheri Lawson on Friday outside the Kona courthouse.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.