Sentencing of teen in Kona rape case delayed

KAILUA-KONA — Another delay has cropped up in the minimum term-setting for a Kailua-Kona teen convicted of the 2016 rape of a woman at Old Kona Airport Park.

A hearing scheduled for Nov. 1 was continued because Samuel Latrik requested an interpreter be present for his appearance before the Hawaii Paroling Authority, which will determine how much time he must serve before becoming eligible for parole.

“The inmate requested and is entitled to a Marshallese interpreter,” said Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety under which the paroling authority falls.

Latrik’s minimum sentencing hearing is now scheduled for January, nearly one year after a Circuit Court sentenced him to serve up to 20 years for his role in the sexual assault that occurred in September 2016.

The continuance is the fourth time in the case since it reached the paroling authority. The parole board by law has six months from sentencing to set a minimum term, unless a continuation is requested waiving that right.

Latrik was the second teen sentenced in connection with the crime after he pleaded guilty and no contest mid-trial in November 2018 to charges including first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault, kidnapping and robbery, among others. He was sentenced to serve up to an indeterminate period of 20 years for the offenses.

Tyron Sigrah, the first teen sentenced, has already been given his minimum term from the parole board. Sigrah, who pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault, kidnapping and second-degree robbery prior to trial, must serve 11 years of a 20-year term before parole eligibility.

Both men are currently incarcerated at Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona.