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Before Haiku man found dead, neighbors of murder suspect reported assault, threats

In the days before a 54-year-old man was found dead in his residence in Haiku, neighbors of the murder suspect called police to report being assaulted and threatened.

A 75-year-old man living on the same property as suspect Mike Pharisien, 51, suffered facial and rib fractures after being hit and knocked unconscious the night of July 2.

Two days earlier, another man living on the property on Loomis Road in Haiku reported Pharisien threatened to beat him.

And on July 9, another neighbor said Pharisien was banging on the door and tried to break into her home at 1:15 a.m. “I left my home terrified and went to my landlord’s home,” she said in a petition seeking a temporary restraining order against Pharisien.

The next morning, while she was with the landlord, Pharisien “broke into my home, killed my fish and destroyed my possessions,” according to her petition.

When police were called to the property July 2 after neighbors found the 75-year-old man injured on a couch, officers couldn’t locate Pharisien.

On the night of July 10, a police officer served Pharisien with a Family Court petition for a temporary restraining order sought by the man who is related to Pharisien and reported being threatened by him June 30. The petition was served after four previous unsuccessful attempts by officers to locate him starting July 8, court records show.

Pharisien was arrested for the assault 10 days after it occurred, on July 12, after Steven Holm was found dead in his home on adjacent Puniawa Road.

Puniawa and Loomis roads are in an off-the-grid location on the makai side of Hana Highway near Twin Falls.

According to a court complaint charging Pharisien with second-degree murder, Holm was killed between July 8 and 12. The two men knew each other, police said.

Pharisien, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail on the murder charge, reported he was ill and refused to leave his cell at the Maui Community Correctional Center for a preliminary hearing Tuesday, according to court officials.

After Pharisien was charged with first-degree assault and second-degree terroristic threatening of the 75-year-old man, court officials were told he refused to be transported to a room at the Wailuku jail so he could appear by videoconference for a bail hearing last week.

Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill kept bail at $100,000 in the assault case.

He noted that Pharisien reported owning property. County property tax records show he has an interest along with four others, including the 75-year-old man and the relative who is seeking a temporary restraining order, in the property on Loomis Road.

On Monday, when Pharisien refused to appear for hearings on the petitions by the 75-year-old man and his tenant, a Wailuku District Court judge granted them three-year injunctions against harassment. The injunctions order Pharisien not to contact, threaten or harass the petitioners and not to enter their residences.

In his petition, the 75-year-old man said he was about to cook dinner when Pharisien came into the kitchen at about 7 p.m. July 2.

“He looked very aggravated and I said it wasn’t a good time to talk and to please leave,” the man said in the petition. “He came inches from my face and said, ‘Are you going to make me.’ I felt very threatened so I walked to the phone (about 5 feet away) and dialed 911. He then hit me so hard behind my left ear that I passed out.”

A tenant and neighbor reported hearing “loud yelling and something breaking.”

“They both came right over and found me on the couch,” the petition said. “I had been hit multiple times in the face and ribs. There was a softball size bump behind my left ear, black eyes, multiple bruises and blood coming out my nose.”

The petition said Pharisien tore off the kitchen door and left before the neighbors arrived.

Others drove the man to the hospital, where he was treated for facial fractures, a head injury, bruised lung and rib fracture.

The man reported being threatened by Pharisien on the property July 10.

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

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