Testifying Tuesday in Borge’s 2nd Circuit Court trial, Regan Nitta said Borge was behind Deanna Bolen Nitta and put her in a chokehold in the early-morning hours of Feb. 19, 2013.

Nitta said he was trying to stand when Borge’s girlfriend grabbed Nitta.

“By the time I got free, he already sliced her,” Nitta said.

“Did you see the knife?” Deputy Prosecutor Emlyn Higa asked.

Regan Nitta

“No, all we seen was blood,” Nitta said. “She went down on her knees off the chair.”

Borge, 53, of Kula has pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree murder of Bolen Nitta.

After police and medics responded to a 911 call at 2:19 that morning, she was transported by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center. She was treated for what an emergency room doctor called a “potentially fatal” laceration across her neck, as well as two lacerations to fingers on her left hand.

On Feb. 18, 2013, she and Nitta had gone to Wade Waikiki’s apartment in Piilani housing at 1028 Wainee St. for a cookout. When they arrived at about 5 or 5:30 that afternoon, Borge and his girlfriend, Kaleolani Keohuhu, were already there.

Nitta said it was the first time he and his wife met Borge.

Through the evening and into the early-morning hours, Nitta, Bolen Nitta and Waikiki were eating pupu and drinking beer, Nitta said. He said Borge and Keohuhu were in the bathroom of the studio apartment for much of the time.

Nitta said he was sitting at a small table with his wife and Waikiki and was finishing his last beer when she was attacked.

“She was getting tired already because we live on the street,” said Nitta, who was living in a vehicle with his wife. “She was getting sleepy already. I told her because it was getting late already and I was down to the last couple sips of my beer, I told her we going after I finish my beer.”

He said Borge, who had been in the bathroom with Keohuhu, walked out just before Nitta finished drinking his beer.

“I nevah think anything,” Nitta said. “He walked around, went to the sink. I looked up and he had her. He had her in a chokehold. She had her head down. We nevah know what was really going on. So I told him, ‘What you doing?’ ”

That’s when Nitta said he went to stand and was grabbed by Keohuhu, who had come out of the bathroom.

“I tried to get to him, but Lani was holding me back,” Nitta said. “I screamed for Howard to get her off my back so I could rescue Dee.”

Nitta was referring to Waikiki’s caregiver, Howard Teo, who was also in the apartment.

Nitta said he managed to take the knife from Borge.

“So I grabbed the knife and stabbed him three times,” Nitta said. “But the thing nevah go through.” 

He said he stabbed Borge “by his heart side.”

“It hit the bone and bent and broke my finger,” Nitta said.

“Why did you attack Borge?” Higa asked.

“Cause he tried to kill her,” Nitta replied.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Michael Green, Nitta said he, his wife, Waikiki and Borge had smoked crystal methamphetamine around the table at the end of the night. “One hit, everybody took,” Nitta said.

“I didn’t see where it came from,” Nitta said. “It was there. I seen it come out.”

Responding to a question from the jury, Nitta said he started smoking crystal methamphetamine after completing his probation for a marijuana arrest. “It’s not an everyday thing, and it’s not every month I smoke,” he said.

After his wife was injured that night, Nitta said he was arrested and interviewed by police, at one point telling them about how Borge had talked to Nitta about joining a gang that night.

“I not into gangs, stuff like that,” Nitta said. “That’s why I’m a fisherman. I stay by myself. I no need trouble, but he brought this trouble.”

Two days before her throat was slit, his wife had been planning to go to the Mainland, where her family including grandchildren are, Nitta said. At the time, they weren’t married.

“And it was rough for us because we live on the street and all that,” he said. “So we decided to separate and she was going back to the Mainland. I tried several times to take Dee back to her family for years. There was none that could help her, so I kept her with me, and we took care each other.”

Bolen Nitta, who also testified Tuesday, said she didn’t see who or what cut her that night.

“I was, like, grabbed from behind and next thing you know my neck was sliced and blood was all over,” she said. “Apparently, whatever was used sliced through my fingers. I probably was trying to protect myself . . . I don’t know.”

Under cross-examination by Green, Bolen Nitta said she didn’t remember telling police officers and others that it was a woman who stabbed her.

Green asked if Bolen Nitta remembered standing at the sink just before she started bleeding from her neck and hearing Keohuhu say, “You are the chosen one.”

“Yes, she did say that,” Bolen Nitta said. “I don’t know if it was right before or not.”

“You’re not 100 percent sure who did this because you didn’t see?” Green asked.

“I don’t remember because it was from behind,” Bolen Nitta said. “I just kind of took it for granted. It was hard because of her words.”

Teo, who was Waikiki’s caregiver, said he had been lying on a mattress and dozing off while playing games on his iPad when he was awakened by the commotion and saw Nitta swinging a knife at Borge and yelling that Borge had killed Nitta’s wife.

Bolen Nitta was on the floor holding her throat, Teo said.

He said Borge and Nitta were on the ground when Teo took away the knife and threw it aside.

Judge Richard Bissen is presiding over the trial, which was scheduled to resume today.

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