Suspect ‘wanted to kill herself’

WAILUKU - After finding there was probable cause for a second-degree murder charge, a District Court judge Friday reduced bail to $300,000 for a woman accused of stabbing to death her boyfriend in their Kahului home.

Rachael Berta, 23, was being held at the Maui Community Correctional Center after a hearing at which witnesses said a distraught Berta "wanted to kill herself."

Wailuku District Judge Simone C. Polak ordered that if Berta is released on bail, she must abstain from alcohol and drugs and report for testing and supervision.

Deputy Prosecutor Melinda Mendes had argued that the original bail amount of $500,000 was reasonable, citing Berta's history of alcoholism, mental health issues and violence against men, as well as her ties to the Mainland.

"She has a history of violence, she has a history of alcohol problems, she has a history of mental problems," Mendes said.

The bail reduction followed a preliminary hearing for Berta, who was arrested nearly two hours after the stabbing of 33-year-old John Shaniyo was reported Monday afternoon.

Wailuku patrol officer Levon Freeman testified he was dispatched to the area of West Kauai and Kahoolawe streets at 2:01 p.m. when a woman called 911 from a cellular telephone, saying she had just stabbed her boyfriend. Arriving at the one-bedroom cottage at 107 W. Kauai St. six minutes later, Freeman said he knocked on the door and got no response but heard moaning and mumbling inside the house.

Through a window, he saw a man lying in the fetal position on his left side on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood spread across the floor.

Freeman said he went into the house through a door that was slightly ajar.

After ensuring that no one else was in the residence, he took a T-shirt from the sofa to use to apply pressure to the man's wound until medics arrived.

Berta, who held her hands over her face through much of the court hearing, began sobbing as Freeman described Shaniyo's condition.

"He was very pale, he was having trouble breathing and his eyes were kind of rolling back into his head," Freeman said. "I asked him, 'Who did this to you?' at which point he replied, 'Rachael.' "

After some confusion over Rachael's last name, Shaniyo told the officer it was Rachael Berta.

"After that, he lost consciousness," Freeman said.

He said he saw a knife on the floor near Shaniyo.

Detective Gregg Okamoto, who went to Maui Memorial Medical Center to try to speak with Shaniyo, said the patient was unresponsive. He died at the hospital at 9:55 p.m.

An autopsy on Wednesday determined Shaniyo died of a stab wound to his abdomen, said Dr. Anthony Manoukian, Maui County coroner's physician. He said the 2-1/8-inch-long stab wound was 5 inches deep, going from right to left and slightly upward.

There was injury to Shaniyo's liver, stomach, pancreas and blood vessels to the intestines, as well as to a large vein that returns blood from the lower parts of the body to the heart and to the aorta, which distributes blood from the heart to the rest of the body, Manoukian said.

A woman who was involved in a treatment program with Berta testified that Berta had been upset on Monday morning.

Berta had attended a class in Wailuku as part of a program for people with mental illness and drug addiction, said Starrlynn Loke Manini, who was also in the class that ended at noon. She said Berta was upset.

"She was not herself," Manini said. "She was really withdrawn and quiet."

Berta said she and her boyfriend had been arguing all weekend, Manini said.

Between 2:35 and 2:45 p.m. Monday, Manini said she received a call from another class member reporting that Berta was in trouble and needed help.

When Manini met up with Berta at Kahului Union Church after 3 p.m., "It's like a deer caught in the headlights," Manini said. "She was crying. She wanted to kill herself. She was afraid she couldn't go back."

Manini said she saw small bruises on Berta's arms and tiny cuts on some of her fingers. She didn't see any blood on Berta's white tank top and jeans.

Berta told Manini she had a knife and was cutting herself.

Manini testified that Berta also told her "she just wanted him to stop yelling at her."

"He wouldn't stop yelling. She kept begging him to stop," Manini said. "The next thing she knew, she had stabbed him."

Manini said it wasn't clear if Shaniyo had been yelling at Berta to stop her from cutting herself.

Berta never said Shaniyo had struck her, Manini said.

Another woman from the class had arrived at the church before Wailuku patrol officer Christina Bonacorsi arrived there at 3:34 p.m. to look for Berta. The officer said two women appeared to be consoling a woman between them. When she asked the woman in the middle if she was Berta, she said her name was Rachael Kerry, Bonacorsi said.

She said she took one of the friends aside to ask if it was actually Berta. When the friend said yes, Bonacorsi detained Berta.

"She was walking away at first, then she was pulling," Bonacorsi said.

She said she and another officer took Berta to the ground and handcuffed her.

At about 5 p.m., as Okamoto was preparing to question Berta at the Wailuku Police Station, the detective said she spontaneously said, "I stabbed my boyfriend."

Berta is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 20 in 2nd Circuit Court.

In asking that Berta's bail be reduced, Deputy Public Defender Adriel Menor said he received numerous calls from people supporting Berta, including family members on the Mainland.

"She does have family here and that family does have stable residence," Menor said.

Mendes opposed any bail reduction.

She said Berta was an admitted alcoholic who was convicted of DUI after being arrested following a collision in October.

"She was passed out behind the wheel," Mendes said.

Berta also admitted to cut herself and claimed 15 suicide attempts, Mendes said.

Police were called to investigate violence in the household when Berta was with a prior boyfriend, Mendes said.

"The defendant asked one of the officers to shoot her and if she grabbed his gun, would he kill her," Mendes said.

Berta also has a conviction for physical harassment of Shaniyo stemming from an October incident when she scratched him on the stomach while drunk, according to court records. Berta was in court for the harassment conviction just 19 days before she allegedly murdered Shaniyo, Mendes said.

When family members went to gather Shaniyo's possessions from the house he had been renting, they found many shirts that had been cut in the sleeves in a closet, Mendes said.

She said police found a cord and pen in the cellblock where Berta was held before being transferred to the jail.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.