Witnesses: Teen tackles dad pointing gun at mom

Boy slashed during incident with father

WAILUKU -- A teenage Hana boy required 36 stitches in his right arm when he was slashed after tackling his father, who was pointing a gun at his mother, witnesses said.

At a preliminary hearing for Edward Villegas, 47, on Thursday in Wailuku District Court, the boy testified he woke up when he heard his grandmother yelling in the early morning of Aug. 29.

After kicking down his parents' locked bedroom door, the boy said he saw his mother on the ground and Villegas pointing the gun at her.

"He was above her," the boy said. "He was pointing the gun towards her, towards her face."

Asked by Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Hicks what thoughts went through his mind, the boy said, "People would die in that situation."

The boy said he tackled Villegas, then held him in a chokehold to keep him away from his mother.

"That's when I got slashed," he said.

His right arm was bandaged at the top of his forearm and in his tricep area.

Edwina Pu, who said Villegas has been her boyfriend for 25 years, testified it was the second time within a week that Villegas pointed the rifle at her.

The first time was Aug. 21 when he was driving her from Hana to Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku for surgery, Pu said.

She said Villegas renewed an argument they had been having and accused her of having an affair, which she said wasn't true. He became angry and wanted her to listen to recordings that she said only had the sound of a fan blowing or water running.

Pu said Villegas pulled over near the location on Hana Highway where their 17-year-old son died in a 2014 crash and continued to tell her, "You're not going to make it back home."

She said Villegas pulled out the rifle from the back seat of his truck and stood in the open driver's side door while pointing the gun about 2 feet from her face.

"He said he was going to kill me, he was going to kill me first and then himself," Pu said. "I was just pleading for my life."

Villegas told her to get out of the truck and walk to their son's crash site.

"I was scared. I nevah know what for do," Pu said. "All I could do was cry and just ask him for forgiveness for whatever I did."

She said she refused to get out of the truck.

Villegas put the gun down, got back in the truck and drove to the hospital, where they arrived a couple of hours late, Pu said.

After her surgery, she said she asked Villegas if he had gotten rid of the gun, and he said he did.

The night of Aug. 28, Pu said she went to sleep early because she had to go to Wailuku for a doctor's appointment the next morning. She was awakened at 10:15 p.m. when Villegas swung open the bedroom door.

"He turned on the lights of our room and I saw his face," she said. "It was evil. He was upset."

Villegas said he thought she was having an affair and went outside to get a speaker so she could listen to the same recordings of the fan blowing and water running, Pu said.

"What I was hearing was different from what he was hearing," she said. "I was upset. I was over it already. I told him that's enough already, I'm done."

She told Villegas he had to leave, and he began grabbing things and went outside, Pu said.

She said she fell asleep, leaving the lights on because she was afraid, before waking to see him standing above her.

"He said, 'here,' and he placed a bullet on the side of me on the bed and said, 'This bullet get your name all over 'em,' " Pu said.

She said she told Villegas to leave. "He was, like, 'I knew it. I knew you was going turn me in,' " she said.

Villegas left the room, then returned with the gun, which he pointed at Pu from 8 to 10 feet away, she said. She said she backed up as far as she could, and he held the gun 4 to 6 inches from her face.

"He said he was going kill me," she said.

Pu said she grabbed the gun and pushed him back with the weapon as he tried to kick her. "He twisted the gun," she said. "That's how it fell down to the ground. My head was stuck between my bed and the closet door, and then he stepped on my face."

Pu said she began calling for help and heard her 74-year-old mother yelling before her son kicked open the door. Villegas had Pu's hair in one hand while trying to hit her mother with the other hand before her son pushed Villegas off, Pu said.

She said she grabbed the gun and passed it to her son-in-law who was standing in the doorway.

Her son was trying to hold down Villegas, Pu said.

Hana patrol officer Asti Merino, responding to a report of disorderly conduct at the residence on Kauiki Street, said he arrived to find the boy sitting in the garage holding his right arm. Merino went in the house and saw Pu's son-in-law wrestling with Villegas in a room. With help from the son-in-law, Merino said he handcuffed Villegas.

"There was blood all over the sheets, there was blood all over him," Merino said. "I noticed blood coming from his neck."

Medics were transporting Villegas to Maui Memorial Medical Center when they checked him for weapons and located two prescription pill bottles -- one containing plastic packets and the other containing marijuana, Merino said.

Hana patrol officer Thomas Hifo said testing confirmed that one pill bottle contained a measurable amount of methamphetamine.

He said a physician's assistant who treated the teenage boy at Hana Health Clinic reported both superficial and deep wounds that required 36 stitches.

Merino said police recovered a .22-caliber bolt action rifle and a box cutter. The gun didn't have a bolt, which would have to be placed in the weapon for the gun to fire, Merino said.

He said Villegas' criminal record includes 2011 convictions for two counts of third-degree sexual assault.

Judge Blaine Kobayashi found there was sufficient evidence to support felony charges of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, being a felon in possession of ammunition and third-degree promoting of a dangerous drug against Villegas. He is also charged with third-degree promoting of a detrimental drug and possessing drug paraphernalia.

While Deputy Public Defender Nikki List argued for supervised release or a reduction in bail for Villegas, Hicks asked that his bail remain at $200,000. In addition to a 10-year prison term if convicted of the assault charge, Villegas would face a mandatory minimum three-year prison term if convicted of the terroristic threatening charges because of enhanced language based on the presence of a firearm, Hicks said.

"The facts of this case show that this defendant posed a very, very great danger to his family," she said.

While saying "the court doesn't do this very often," Judge Kobayashi ordered that Villegas be held without bail. He said "the court believes there is a serious risk that the defendant definitely poses a danger to, not just the primary victim in this case but also her son as well."

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