WAILUKU - Bail was kept at $25,000 for a Pukalani man charged with assaulting another man as he sat in a car in Haiku.
Johnny Takemoto, 28, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and third-degree assault. A Dec. 10 trial is scheduled in 2nd Circuit Court.
Takemoto and co-defendant Erino Dayton Bascar, 24, of Haiku are charged with assaulting the man at about 3 a.m. Aug. 12 on Kahope Place in Haiku, police said.
It was an "unprovoked attack on a stranger," said Deputy Prosecutor Kim Whitworth.
She said Bascar's former girlfriend was in the passenger seat of the car when Takemoto started punching the man, who was in the driver's seat, in the face. When Takemoto was pulled off, Bascar began attacking the man, who suffered a concussion, Whitworth said.
She said the victim was so afraid that he had left the island.
While recognizing that Takemoto wanted to be released from jail so he could return to his job of about a month, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza cited Takemoto's multiple prior convictions for contempt of court, bail jumping and failure to appear in maintaining bail.
Bail is also set at $25,000 for Bascar.
