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Lava recovery wish list reduced by county
DECISION FOR SPECIAL SESSION OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE ‘IS IMMINENT’
Bail upped
to $250K
for second
suspect
Samuel Latrik took the
stand in 3rd Circuit
Court Tuesday. TIFFANY
DEMASTERS/WEST HAWAII TODAY
BY TIFFANY DEMASTERS
WEST HAWAII TODAY
tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com
Old A rapist gets up to 20 years
VICTIM: ‘I THOUGHT
I WAS GONNA DIE’
3 charged with attempted murder following Kona assault
VICTIM REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION ON OAHU
INDEX Annie’s Mailbox . . . . . . .5B Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6B Nation & World . . . . . . . . .3A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B
HI 89 LO 77 WEATHER, PAGE 5A
VOL. 50, NO. 262 16 PAGES
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INSIDE
PLANTING A
LEGACY OF
LEARNING
Foundation helps students
grow fruit trees at Kahakai
Elementary School
PAGE 8A
▼
VOLCANOES
NATIONAL
PARK TO
REOPEN
SATURDAY
Access still
limited in light of
damage suffered
PAGE 6A
▼
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢
KAILUA-KONA — A
man remains in critical
condition following an
assault that occurred early
Monday morning in the
parking lot of the Kona
Seaside Hotel.
Hawaii Police
Department Maj. Robert
Wagner said Tuesday that
the victim, a 63-year-old
security guard, is currently
on Oahu receiving
treatment for “severe,
life-threatening injuries.”
Police responded to a
report of an assault about
12:30 a.m. Monday, where
they found the security
guard lying on the
ground. Officers determined
through preliminary
investigation that
the assault occurred after
a confrontation between
the victim and four people
occupying a sports utility
vehicle.
The security guard
asked
them to
turn their
music
down.
Of the
vehicle’s
four occupants,
three were involved in the
assault. Police identified
the three as 30-year-old
Wesley Samoa of Kona,
30-year-old Lama Lauvao
of Honolulu and 41-yearold
Natisha Tautalatasi,
also of Honolulu.
On Monday afternoon,
all three were charged
with second-degree
attempted murder. Bond
was set at $250,000 for
each alleged assailant.
Wagner said they will
all likely be arraigned in
Kona sometime today.
The penalty for second
degree attempted
murder is life imprisonment
with the possibility
of parole.
A fourth occupant
of the car, 33-year-old
Mahealani Kanehailua
of Kona, was arrested on
Monday on suspicion of
operating
a vehicle
while
intoxicated.
Wagner
said she
did not
participate
in the assault and has not
been charged in the violent
incident.
Samoa, Lauvao and
Tautalatasi all have criminal
histories. Samoa
has been convicted most
recently of third-degree
assault in July 2017 and
has been charged several
other times for different
offenses in the past.
Lauvao was charged
with accomplice to robbery
on Oahu in 2009,
among other run-ins with
law enforcement.
Tautalatasi, along with
multiple other criminal
incidents stretching back
to 1997, pleaded guilty to
second-degree promoting
a dangerous drug on
Oahu in 2007.
BY MAX DIBLE
WEST HAWAII TODAY
mdible@westhawaiitoday.com
Samoa Lauvao
KEALAKEKUA — Bail
was reimposed to $250,000
on an 18-year-old man,
accused of felony sex offenses,
after reports of violating
bail conditions a second time.
On Tuesday morning,
Samuel Latrik took the stand
in 3rd Circuit Court in his
defense, opposing Hawaii
Intake Service Center’s
claims he violated bail conditions
by leaving his home on
two separate occasions while
SEE BAIL PAGE 5A
KEALAKEKUA — A 17-yearold
boy was sentenced up to 20
years in prison for the September
2016 rape of a woman at Old
Kona Airport Park.
Tyron Sigrah was sentenced
Tuesday in 3rd Circuit Court for
first-degree sexual assault, second
degree
assault, kidnapping
and
second-degree
robbery.
The counts
will be served
concurrently
and the
minimum
prison sentence
will be
determined
by the Hawaii
Paroling
Authority.
Sigrah
stood with a
bowed head
as the victim
approached
the court to make a statement
prior to the teen’s adjudication.
“This was a very, very heinous
crime,” the woman stated. “I
thought I was gonna die. They
were suffocating me with a
towel.”
Sigrah was one of two teens
reportedly involved in the Sept.
3, 2016, attack at the park’s soccer
field, just north of the Kona
Community Aquatics Center.
The second suspect was identified
in January as Samuel
Latrik after a grand jury indicted
the 18-year-old. Prosecutors
said that Sigrah, who was 15 at
the time, and Latrik, who was
BY TIFFANY DEMASTERS
WEST HAWAII TODAY
tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com
Deputy Public Defender Wendy DeWeese seeks to have her client Tyron Sigrah receive a
juvenile sentence, however, Judge Robert D.S. Kim ordered him to serve up to 20 years
after pleading guilty to first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault, kidnapping
and second-degree robbery Tuesday in circuit court. LAURA RUMINSKI/WEST HAWAII TODAY
SEE SENTENCE PAGE 5A
“What
happened to
you should
have never
happened
to anyone.
As long as
I wear this
robe, I will
make sure
it doesn’t.”
JUDGE ROBERT D.S. KIM
HILO — A decision on a
whether there will be a special
session of the state Legislature
to consider disaster relief funding
appropriation, especially for
Puna communities impacted
by lava from Kilauea volcano’s
lower East Rift Zone eruption,
needs to be made soon.
Roy Takemoto, executive
assistant to Mayor Harry Kim,
said Tuesday that he thinks a
decision by legislative leaders
on whether to recommend such
a session “is imminent.”
Gov. David Ige has the authority
to convene a special session.
Also, the presiding officers of
both houses are required to convene
the Legislature in special
session at the written request
of two-thirds of the members of
each chamber.
If a special session isn’t called,
the county will have to wait
until the 2019 regular legislative
session to ask lawmakers
for money to help Big Islanders
recover — not only from lava,
but from damaging floods
brought on by torrential rainfall
from Hurricane Lane.
Takemoto said that following
a Sept. 5 meeting with House
leadership, the county scaled
back its funding request for
immediate needs through the
current fiscal year, which ends
June 30, 2019, as well as its
second-tier priorities, which are
for state-funded initiatives that
don’t include federal funding.
He said House leadership
asked the county “to recheck
our priorities and make sure
BY JOHN BURNETT
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
SEE LAVA PAGE 6A
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