Kona District Court Judge Wendy DeWeese Friday found a 52-year-old Hilo man who pleaded not guilty to a host of charges filed in connection with the alleged September 2022 abduction and ensuing crimes committed against a 15-year-old Kona girl fit to stand trial Friday morning.
In a crowded courtroom, Duncan Kealoha Mahi appeared before DeWeese with court-appointed attorney James Bivens for a contested case hearing of mental evaluations.
Although Mahi, who has an extensive criminal history, presented to psychiatric evaluators of hearing voices and believing “the association” was after him, all three of the court appointed professionals found him fit to proceed in the criminal case.
Mahi was indicted Sept. 21, 2022, on two counts each of kidnapping, first-degree terroristic threatening, first-degree robbery, first-degree sex assault and third-degree sex assault and one count of meth trafficking for giving the substance to a minor.
The charges stem from a series of alleged crimes that began around 1:30 p.m. Sept. 16, 2022, at Anaehoomalu Bay in South Kohala.
According to police and family of the victim, the victim was with her boyfriend at Anaehoomalu Bay when a local man in his 40s to 60s approached the young couple, forced the girl to tie up her boyfriend and then took her at knifepoint.
The abduction triggered Hawaii Island’s first-ever Maile (AMBER) Alert as county, state, federal and private assets searched for the teen. The victim was able to escape her captor around 11:30 a.m. Sept. 17, 2022, in Hilo with the assistance of Good Samaritans. Mahi was apprehended several hours later.
According to court documents, Mahi allegedly sexually assaulted the victim and forced her to smoke methamphetamine. Mahi also allegedly tethered the victim by her ankle inside a bus on his Hilo property until she persuaded him to get her food in Hilo.
Though the victim’s name was widely disseminated via the AMBER Alert, West Hawaii Today is not including her name in stories to protect the her identity because she is a minor and a victim of sexual assault.
Mahi remains in custody without bail at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
If convicted, a Class A felony carries up to 20 years behind bars while a Class C felony is punishable by up to five years imprisonment. A conviction for methamphetamine trafficking carries a minimum two-year sentence.
Prosecutors previously said the state plans to pursue extended terms of imprisonment due to Mahi’s previous felony convictions. If convicted, the indictment states, Mahi may be sentenced to a mandatory minimum period of imprisonment without the possibility of parole as a repeat offender.
His trial is set to begin August 22.
