A Kona Circuit Court judge recently cut in half bail for one of two Puna women accused of murder in the 2018 death of a 6-year-old boy at a Kealakehe apartment complex.
Kuuipo Nihipali is now being held in lieu of $500,000 bail after Judge Robert D.S. Kim ruled Thursday to reduce her bail following a motion by Deputy Public Defender Ann Datta seeking her client’s be granted supervised release or a reduction in bail. The state opposed the motion. Prosecutors sought to have both Kuuipo Nihipali and her co-defendant Ashley Nihipali be held without bail pending trial. Ashley Nihipali’s bail remains set at $1 million after Kim denied the motion.
Both women remain confined at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Jury trial is scheduled to begin July 7 for the two defendants accused of the death of 6-year-old Mazen Kaniela Nihipali-Moniz on Halloween 2018 and abusing him and his siblings for months prior at the Lailani Apartment complex in Kealakehe.
Kuuipo Nihipali is charged with one count second-degree murder; one count second-degree murder as principal and/or accomplice; six counts second-degree felony abuse of a family or household member as principal and/or accomplice; first-degree hindering prosecution as principal and/or accomplice; tampering with evidence as principal and/or accomplice; and two counts first-degree terroristic threatening as principal and/or accomplice, according to an indictment handed down July 31.
Ashley Nihipali is facing one count second-degree murder as principal and/or accomplice; six counts second-degree felony abuse of a family or household member as principal and/or accomplice; first-degree hindering prosecution as principal and/or accomplice; tampering with evidence as principal and/or accomplice; and two counts first-degree terroristic threatening as principal and/or accomplice, according to the indictment.
Each pleaded not guilty to all of the charges following their indictment in early August.
Nihipali-Moniz was pronounced dead about 5:30 p.m. Oct. 31, 2018, after being taken by medics from the Kailua Fire Station to Kona Community Hospital. The 6-year-old was brought unconscious by a family member to the station.
Police said the child was reportedly involved in an “incident” and been found unconscious at the Lailani Apartment complex on Manawalea Street.
The child’s death was ruled a homicide after autopsy results revealed the cause of death involved trauma.