A 65-year-old Mountain View man is accused of attacking a woman with a machete and a man with a baseball bat after they allegedly confronted him about property they say the man stole from them.
According to court documents filed by police, the woman told officers she and the male victim went to James A. Wilson’s Ulei Street residence on Friday morning.
The woman told police that Wilson yelled at the man while armed with a 2-foot-long machete.
She reportedly yelled at Wilson, who allegedly called her a sexist epithet and struck her on the head three or four times with the machete.
The woman ran inside the home to find bandages for her wounds, leaving her companion outside with Wilson, the documents state.
She reportedly heard screaming from outside and came out to find the male victim lying on the ground, injured and bleeding, and Wilson was no longer at the scene.
The woman drove the other victim to Hilo Medical Center for treatment, according to the documents. The man, unconscious and intubated, was flown via medevac to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu for further treatment.
A Hilo Medical Center emergency room physician diagnosed the man’s injuries as a skull fracture, bleeding between the brain and the skull, ruptured right eye, scalp laceration and a broken wrist.
The doctor told police the man’s injuries were caused by a hard or blunt object.
Police found a bloody wooden baseball bat at the scene, as well as a tank top and jeans covered in blood — clothes that fit the woman’s description of what Wilson was wearing.
Wilson — who has an Alaska driver’s license, according to the documents — was arrested and elected to not make a statement after being advised of his rights, police said.
He was charged with attempted second-degree murder — which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole upon conviction, plus first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault.
At Wilson’s initial court appearance Monday, Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk maintained bail at $295,000 and ordered Wilson to return Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
