WAILUKU — A man who was on probation for abusing and assaulting his girlfriend when he was arrested for assaulting her again was sentenced Wednesday to a five-year prison term.

Brayden Pililaau, 38, of Kihei had asked for another chance on probation, with his attorneys saying he had done well while supervised in the past.

But Deputy Prosecutor Shelly Miyashiro said prison was the only appropriate sentence.

“The concern is that despite being on probation, the defendant did not try to make changes to his behavior,” she said. “His probation officer noted his motivation for change was lacking.”

In addition to continuing to abuse drugs and alcohol, Pililaau didn’t complete anger management treatment, she said.

“He continued to engage in criminal behavior, became more violent to the victim,” Miyashiro said.

In two criminal cases, Pililaau had pleaded no contest to second-degree assault and two counts of abuse.

In the first case, Pililaau was sleeping in the bedroom on Aug. 27, 2019, when his girlfriend got home and turned on a light, waking him.

“He got angry,” Miyashiro said, and shouted at her before grabbing her neck and squeezing it with both hands.

“She could still breathe but had neck pain and soreness,” Miyashiro said.

She said Pililaau also hit the woman’s right ear, causing pain and ringing in that ear.

He appeared in court a few weeks later, then posted bail to be released Nov. 1, 2019.

Shortly afterward, “he went after the victim again,” Miyashiro said.

At 5:30 a.m. Nov. 7, 2019, police responded to a report by the victim that she had been beaten by Pililaau.

She told police that the day before, she was walking with a friend near Harbor Lights Condominium in Kahului when someone — who turned out to be Pililaau — ran up behind her and grabbed her by the back of her neck and shoved her to the ground, causing her to hit her head on a guardrail. The victim reported that Pililaau punched her on the head, kneed her and made threats to kill her, Miyashiro said.

On the day she called police, the victim had been walking by Walgreens in Kahului, saw Pililaau and went up to him. Miyashiro said he told the woman, “I’ll give you five seconds to get out of my face or I’ll kill you.”

Pililaau shoved the victim, grabbed her by her hair, punched her in the face and hit the back of her head with a skateboard, Miyashiro said.

The woman was bleeding from her nose and mouth, suffered a small laceration over her right eyebrow and was diagnosed with a right orbital fracture, Miyashiro said.

“We found ourselves in a broken state,” Pililaau said in court. “We’re both under our own addictions, our own issues. We figured we could fix each other. Once you come to a place where that’s the only thing you have, it’s hard to let go. We were trying to make something work when it wasn’t going to work.”

He said he still talks to her children but doesn’t talk to her.

“I do care for her deeply, but I told her there’s no way we could have a relationship and it could be a normal relationship,” he said.

Defense attorney David Wiltsie said Pililaau “thrived” in the Hawaii Youth Challenge program while on juvenile probation. He also succeeded in the Maui Drug Court program in 2014, Wiltsie said.

“It appears he does do well when he’s supervised closely,” he said. “Methamphetamine abuse is clearly the biggest issue that has led to his downward slide.”

Defense attorney Damir Kouliev asked for Pililaau to be given a last chance, now that he and the victim were distancing themselves.

Second Circuit Judge Richard Bissen said he had given Pililaau the benefit of the doubt in the past.

“He has gotten worse,” Bissen said. “His crimes have gotten more serious and he’s caused more harm.

“I agree it’s a dysfunctional relationship. But that doesn’t give anyone a pass to say, ‘She’s bad too, she’s broken just like I am so if I break her a little bit more, what’s the problem?’

“Well, the problem is you promised me you were not going to do that again, I believed you and I let you out,” Bissen said to Pililaau. “I’m the reason that these felonies have occurred. I should have imposed a prison sentence back then. It might have prevented this.”

In two 2018 cases, Pililaau had been placed on probation for third-degree assault, second-degree criminal property damage, felony abuse and abuse.

In sentencing and resentencing Pililaau to prison terms, Bissen said, “We’re at that point where probation is not an option, in the court’s mind.”

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