Trending
WAILUKU -- A one-year jail term was ordered Wednesday for a man who repeatedly punched and kicked a 68-year-old man in the face, causing life-threatening injuries, after a collision in a Wailuku parking lot.
Jordan Namauu, 19, of Kahului was ordered to pay $5,099 in restitution as part of four years' probation.
"You broke his phone. You broke his face. You broke his spirit," 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen said to Namauu during his sentencing. "You're so lucky that he survived."
"I'm blessed, your honor," Namauu responded.
"And he survived due to his own will," Bissen said. "You left. You never got help for him. You just left, like you hit the side of a rubbish can."
"I was scared," Namauu said.
"How can you be the one scared when he's the guy lying in the pool of blood?" Bissen asked.
Originally charged with first-degree assault, Namauu had pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree assault. The prosecution agreed not to seek a mandatory prison term for Namauu as part of the plea agreement.
According to police reports, Namauu was turning around in the parking lot of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center when his vehicle collided with a truck driven by Miguel Mones, who was leaving work at the Maui Adult Day Care center at about 5 p.m. April 11.
Mones said that the rear right portion of his truck was damaged. Because Namauu said he was in a hurry and didn't want to wait for police to provide information, Mones was using his cellphone to take a photo of Namauu's license plate for his insurance when Namauu grabbed and smashed the phone.
Namauu punched Mones in the face repeatedly, causing him to fall backward onto the pavement, said Deputy Prosecutor Lyle Keanini. He said that surveillance video showed Namauu punching Mones as he lay on the ground.
When Mones sat up, Namauu returned and kicked Mones in the face, Keanini said.
"The facts in this case are quite troubling," he said.
Mones said that he was trying to drive away in his truck when he passed out. A teacher at the preschool in the complex saw him and called an ambulance, Mones said.
He said he was hospitalized for four days after suffering a blood clot in his brain and facial fractures.
In court Wednesday, Mones said that the assault left him afraid to be alone.
"My trust was changed to fear," he said. "In my mind, I'm always thinking about my security."
He said he was leaving it to the judge to decide on the sentence for Namauu.
"I cannot blame him anymore because it's already done," Mones said outside the courtroom after the sentencing. "Thanks to God for my recovery."
While the prosecution sought a six-month jail term for Namauu, he asked for no additional time after previously spending eight days in jail.
"We're talking about a young person in society, a young person who's had his struggles," said Deputy Public Defender Zach Raidmae. "Obviously, he doesn't know how to control his anger, hits hard and can do damage to another person."
But, he said, Namauu was working and "trying to make this better in any way he can."
"When this behavior is prevented, everyone's safer and everyone's better," Raidmae said.
Namauu said that he was affected by the loss of his brother at a young age.
"I just keep thinking about my brother," he said. I have a hard time having a good day."
Bissen said Namauu explained to police that he was a trained mixed martial arts fighter. "If that's what you are, you must be embarrassed to tell people you won this fight," Bissen said. "It's not a fight. It was a beating."
When Namauu went back and kicked Mones in the face as he was trying to get up, "you wanted to kill this guy," Bissen said.
Namauu said no.
"I'm not that type of person anymore," he said. "I'm very aloha."
"I'm sure that's true until you get angry," Bissen said.
He said that the assault was the third by Namauu, whose probation for another assault as a juvenile had ended two and a half months before he assaulted Mones. Namauu's record includes another assault as a juvenile, Bissen said.
"As young as you are, you have made conscious decisions to hurt other people who don't deserve it," Bissen told Namauu. "The only reason you're not standing here on a murder charge is he lived through his own will, through his own fight to survive. He is much tougher than you will ever be.
"The only reason I'm not sending you to prison today is to give you a chance to show this won't happen again."
Namauu was ordered not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to complete anger management classes. He was ordered to have no contact with Mones.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.