A Hilo mother of two is in “serious but stable condition” after being stabbed seven times at a residence Thursday morning.
Cyrus Jabilona, 24, of Hilo, has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and felony domestic abuse after allegedly stabbing 25-year-old Cheylee Octavio seven times at his residence on Kimo Place in Hilo.
“He tried to kill her,” said Octavio’s sister Choncie-Lynn Agbayani on Friday. “If he was one inch off, we’d be having a much different conversation.”
Octavio’s grandmother, Paula Agrigado, said Jabilona is the father of one of Octavio’s two children, although the two were no longer partners at the time of the incident.
Agbayani said she was watching her sister’s children while Octavio completed a college assignment on Wednesday. During the day, Jabilona contacted Octavio asking to see her children, to which she agreed.
“I dropped (his son) off with him, and we didn’t have any real interaction, and I drove off,” Agbayani said.
“Looking back, I wish I would have just kept the kids so my sister didn’t have to go through this.”
At some point late Wednesday, Agrigado said Octavio went to pick up her children at Jabilona’s residence.
However, this led to a confrontation, she said, with Jabilona taking Octavio’s phone.
When Octavio turned away from Jabilona, he stabbed her in the back, Agrigado said.
Jabilona allegedly stabbed Octavio six more times in the back and leg before ultimately turning his weapon on himself.
According to a Hawaii Police Department report, he was sent to Hilo Medical Center in stable condition with multiple self-inflicted punctures to the chest and arm.
“As far as I know, he’s not dead,” Agbayani said. “But to be honest I don’t really care how he’s doing.”
Octavio was able to get herself to the bedroom of Jabilona’s mother, who called the police at 12:26 a.m. Agrigado said Jabilona’s mother was too hysterical for dispatchers to understand her, requiring Octavio to talk to them herself.
Octavio then used Jabilona’s home phone to call her own mother, Agrigado said.
“She said ‘mom, I love you’ and asked her to take care of her kids,” Agrigado said.
Agrigado said Octavio’s youngest child — Jabilona’s son — is too young to understand what has happened, but her daughter is a “very smart” four-year-old who she said may have seen her injured mother being taken into the ambulance. Agbayani said the girl was asked to make a statement to the police.
Octavio graduated from Waiakea High School in 2014 with a soccer scholarship to Mount Mercy University in Iowa.
Jabilona remains confined in the hospital in lieu of a $525,000 total bail. His initial court appearance is scheduled for Monday in Hilo District Court.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
