WAILUKU — A Lahaina man has been ordered to complete a three-month jail term for illegally entering a Kaanapali condominium and assaulting a resident last year.
Efren “Jesse” Quillayen Jr., 27, also was required to enroll in anger-management classes and was placed on five years’ probation Friday.
“He has demonstrated that he can perform well under probation,” 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August said in imposing the sentence. “Obviously, there’s a concern that the issue of violence has been increasing in frequency and intensity.”
During a trial last year, Quillayen and co-defendant Randy “Goose” Welch Jr., 30, were found guilty of first-degree burglary and third-degree assault. At about 12:30 a.m. July 19, they went into a unit at the Masters at Kaanapali and began punching and kicking resident John Hellum, according to testimony during the trial.
A vase was smashed over Hellum’s head before he managed to run out of the apartment. Then Quillayen and Welch left with Quillayen’s girlfriend, Kimberly Gurgone, who had been with Hellum in the condominium.
In court Friday, Deputy Public Defender Greg Ball asked that Quillayen be given credit for 47 days he had previously spent in jail.
Quillayen works seven days a week at a Lahaina surf school, where he has been employed for 10 years and supervises 14 employees, Ball said.
“This taught me a lot,” Quillayen said. “I have been away from my family. I missed work. I’m rebounding, and things are going a lot better for me.”
But Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani called for a 10-year prison term for Quillayen, citing the current case as well as his criminal history dating to 2000.
He said Quillayen has prior convictions for abuse, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The Legislature designated first-degree burglary as a Class B felony carrying a potential prison term “because people have a right to feel safe in their homes,” Tani said.
“What the Legislature tries to prevent is exactly what happened in this case, where somebody breaks into a house and the homeowner is there,” he said. “The defendant clearly is a danger to our community. His behavior is escalating in violence.”
August said what happened wasn’t a “random act” but stemmed from Quillayen’s relationship with Gurgone, with whom he has a child. In the hours leading up to the burglary and assault, Gurgone had made a number of telephone calls to Quillayen, essentially taunting him “to lose control of himself and prove he cared enough about her . . . to attack the person she was with,” August said.
He called her actions “an unusual way to demand affection, but it does happen.”
August allowed Quillayen to serve the rest of his jail term on consecutive weekends starting Friday afternoon.
Welch is awaiting sentencing.
• Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
