×

‘Evil monster’ sentenced to 20 years in prison

Kumulipo Sylva used machete to kill man in mall bathroom

Kumulipo Sylva listens during his sentencing Friday afternoon in 2nd Circuit Court. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the machete killing of Eduardo Alejandro Cerezo on March 18, 2018, in a bathroom at the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

WAILUKU — With the victim’s mother calling the defendant an “evil monster,” he was sentenced Friday to a 20-year prison term for using a machete to kill a man in a bathroom at Queen Ka’ahumanu Center.

The sentence was the maximum that could be imposed on Kumulipo Sylva after a 2nd Circuit Court jury found him guilty last year of manslaughter based on extreme mental or emotional disturbance.

Sylva, 25, originally was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 35-year-old Makawao resident Eduardo Alejandro Cerezo on March 18, 2018.

“Our souls were broken to learn, to understand, to try to comprehend what had happened on that fateful day,”

Cerezo’s mother, Patricia Villarruel, said, addressing 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen. “There will never be answers to any of the questions that we have — why it happened, what led to the circumstances and to the vicious killing.

Victim Eduardo Alejandro Cerezo’s mother, Patricia Villarruel, speaks directly to Kumulipo Sylva in court Friday. “You are evil,” she said. Sylva was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the death of Cerezo. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“The only thing we can do is ask — and I beg of you — to please issue the most severe of sentences.

“Please, please, help us protect the community, all the families, all the keiki, everybody that lives and breathes on this island and anywhere else where this evil monster may end up one day. Do not allow him or give him the opportunity to ever, ever shatter and break a family again without any conscience. He doesn’t or he won’t accept what he’s done.”

The afternoon he was killed, Cerezo and his friend had taken the Maui Bus from Pukalani Community Center to Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului. Sylva, who also had been on the bus, challenged Cerezo to a fight, but Cerezo said no and walked away.

Cerezo and his friend were talking in the second-floor bathroom near the Macy’s men’s store when Sylva walked in with the machete and swung it, nearly decapitating Cerezo and killing him instantly, said Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani.

“He was a brother to his sisters, Emily and Gabriela, and he was a father to his young son,” Tani said. “No parent should ever, ever outlive their children. But that’s what happened in this case.”

Addressing Sylva in court, Villarruel said, “You, you are the evil monster that took — yes, that took — my son. You are evil.”

“But you know what, you know what’s stronger than hate, Kumulipo Sylva?” she said. “Love. Love is stronger than hate . . . and that’s what our family is doing now — staying strong, celebrating my son’s life for who he was, for how he made us laugh, for how he enjoyed cooking and sharing holidays with us.”

She said people who don’t know her but recognize who she is on the street or in the supermarket “just come up to me and hug me.”

“Losing your child in the heinous and horrible killing that took place, it brought our community together,” she said.

“What else can I say, your honor? That my heart is broken, that I miss my son every day. I will miss him till the day that I die,” she said.

While the prosecution sought the 20-year prison term, Sylva asked to be placed on probation.

Deputy Public Defender Ben Lowenthal said Sylva, who grew up in Haiku, began suffering delusions starting in his late teens and into his 20s. After his family sent him away as the delusions took over, Sylva was “untreated and on his own” and expected to maintain a medication regime with no one to monitor and help him, Lowenthal said.

He said Sylva had a history of noncompliance with medication.

Hours before the killing, Sylva tried to be admitted into the Molokini ward at Maui Memorial Medical Center but was turned away, Lowenthal said.

“And that’s why it could have been avoided,” he said. “When we look to the criminal justice system to fix a health care crisis, we will always fall short because no sentence that this court can issue will fix this.”

Deputy Public Defender Zach Raidmae said Sylva has chosen not to take antipsychotic medication because he doesn’t like how it makes him feel. But he said Sylva could be helped if he is required to take a drug described as the “Cadillac of antipsychotic medication.”

“He is not evil,” Raidmae said. “He is genuinely a caring, compassionate person.”

When Sylva saw Cerezo that day, “he didn’t see a person he could empathize with,” Raidmae said.

Referring to Cerezo’s family, Raidmae said, “We empathize with their sadness and what was taken away from them.”

“The truth is the truth,” Sylva said in court Friday. “What I did was to bring justice to a demon . . . who had been messing with God’s divine creations in the way demons end up doing . . .”

Judge Bissen said he didn’t know if Sylva sees demons or not. “But what I do know is that if there is such a thing, that it is he who is the demon,” Bissen said.

Unlike other cases involving people with acute or long-term mental health issues, Sylva planned the killing, then tried to evade capture, Bissen said.

“He didn’t stand there and say, ‘I did this to right this wrong,’ ” Bissen said. “He ran, just like lots of people do when they do something they know is wrong.”

Bissen said he didn’t know why Sylva had the machete that day.

“When he challenged Alex Cerezo to that fight in the parking lot, which Alex turned down, he couldn’t leave it alone, mental health issues or not,” Bissen said. “At that point, in my opinion, he was acting on ego.

“When he went to the bathroom to confront Alex, he already knew he had the upper hand. He had the sharp weapon. He came up from behind. Alex had no chance at all.”

After Sylva ran from the shopping center, he hid his camouflage jacket under a dumpster on Wakea Avenue.

“Think about that for one second,” Bissen said. “Most people throw stuff in the dumpster. He knew that’s the first place they would look. He took it off, he bundled it up and he stuck it under. Who thinks of that when running away from a murder scene?”

Then Sylva took the machete to an area near a playground at Kahului Community Center and buried the weapon under dirt and grass.

“Who’s going to search a playground for a weapon?” Bissen said. “The only reason police found it is because he gave it up.

“I don’t think any of us should confuse mental illness with a propensity to commit murder because they do not equal each other.”

The judge said Sylva had three traffic infractions on his record before the day of the killing.

“On this day, he made a different decision than his days before this,” Bissen said. “He decided he would go to the mall with a machete. He decided he was offended by somebody. He decided he would kill him.

“Just as quickly, he shut it off. He went about his business, hoping not to get caught. And he got caught.”

As part of his sentence, Sylva was ordered to pay $2,547 in restitution.

After the sentencing, Villarruel said, “Our family wishes to thank the judge, prosecution team, victim advocate team and all the good Samaritans, from a mother’s heart, for all their help, support and guidance through this difficult time. Now, as this chapter closes, we can begin to heal our family and our community.”

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

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
     
Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today