WAILUKU — With family members saying they both loved and feared a man, he was sentenced Wednesday to prison terms totaling 25 years for repeatedly stabbing his mother in a “heinous and heartless” attack at their Napili residence.

Major Akana, 28, had agreed to the consecutive sentencing when he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of attempted manslaughter, as well as first-degree terroristic threatening. He was originally charged with attempted murder.

“There’s not many crimes as heinous and heartless,” 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo said in imposing the prison sentences. “We’ll never really know what caused you to attack your mother on Oct. 23, 2015.”

At 7:45 that morning, Akana’s mother was getting ready to take his little sister to school. “For some reason, you decided to brutally attack your mother with steak knives, brutally stabbing her many times,” Loo said to Akana.

Police said 50-year-old Debbie Akana was in the living room when she was stabbed multiple times in her head, upper back and shoulder. A stab wound to her chest ruptured her lung and caused bleeding in her chest, which was life-threatening, police said.

A neighbor heard screams, ran to the Akana residence and began banging on the front door, telling Major Akana to leave his mother alone, police said. Debbie Akana unlocked the door and ran toward the residence of the neighbor, who called 911.

“She could have easily died that morning due to you attacking her,” Loo told Major Akana. “Your mother is your flesh and blood. She gave birth to you, she raised you. She fed and clothed you.

“You tried to take her flesh and blood. You basically treated her like a piece of meat.”

Akana’s aunt Mugsie Akana said she went to the house to clean up afterward.

“What he did to my sister-in-law, it broke my heart,” she said in court. “Yes, I’m afraid of him. But I love him dearly. What I really, really want is for him to get mental help.”

Major Akana declined to address the court.

Defense attorney Chris Dunn said Major Akana has a “significant” mental health history.

“The question is whether he will accept he suffers from this and accept the treatment that will inevitably be recommended for him,” Dunn said.

In a text message read in court by another aunt, Debbie Akana said she had tried to get help for her son for many years. She came to realize she had to protect herself and her daughter from Major Akana’s abuse, the text said.

“I never thought he would attack me or anyone with the knife,” her text said. “I’m glad I got hurt and not (her daughter) that day and I survived.”

“Is she fearful of him? Yes,” said aunt Karen Nagasako. “Will she probably ever be able to see him again or be in a room by herself with her child? No. I sure don’t want to live through that again, not knowing if she would recover.

“I hope he knows how much love still surrounds him,” Nagasako said. “We do not support what he did in any way, shape or form. Our hope is that Major will get some help while he’s incarcerated, that he will function better.”

Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani said one of the most troubling aspects of the case was the unknown motive for the assault.

“This was a terrible, unprovoked, brutal assault by the defendant on his mother,” Tani said. “There’s no explanation for why he assaulted his mother in the brutal manner that he did.”

Thankfully, Akana’s sister didn’t see what happened, Tani said.

In following the plea agreement by sentencing Akana to consecutive prison terms of 20 and five years, Judge Loo said it was the only way to “keep the public safe, your mother safe, the community safe.”

She said Akana previously had been placed on probation for assault against a law enforcement officer and abuse of his mother with his fists and a broomstick before escalating to steak knives.

Loo thanked about a dozen family members in the courtroom gallery for supporting Akana and writing letters to the court.

Referring to the text message from his mother, Loo said: “She still loves you. They all love you. The problem is I think everyone’s scared of you because you’re unpredictable.”

Akana was ordered to pay $3,289 in restitution.

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