LIHUE — The mother of the 18-year-old pregnant woman who was stabbed earlier this month tried to file a protective order for her daughter two years ago against the man who attacked her but the effort was denied. District Court
LIHUE — The mother of the 18-year-old pregnant woman who was stabbed earlier this month tried to file a protective order for her daughter two years ago against the man who attacked her but the effort was denied.
District Court Judge Edmund Acoba denied the petition by Sharon Kanahele for a temporary restraining order in December 2013 against Christopher Cruz on grounds that it lacked evidence of acts of abuse.
Even though the petition was for Victoria Kanahele, a minor at the time, the allegations of abuse in the petition were made against the mother, Sharon Kanahele, according to the denial of petition for an order for protection.
The court said it found “no evidence of domestic abuse of Victoria.”
The petition was not refiled.
On Wednesday, Cruz pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder in the second degree for stabbing Victoria Kanahele in the parking lot of the Eleele Ace Hardware behind Big Save on Dec. 6. Cruz is accused of puncturing the right side of Kanahele’s stomach, then running away.
During the scuffle, Cruz attempted to retrieve the knife after it fell in the backseat of the car, but when Kanahele grabbed it instead and threw it, he ran toward the highway, according to Kanahele’s testimony during a preliminary hearing Dec. 14.
Kanahele had to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency cesarean section. The baby died 30 minutes after he was born.
His trial is set for April 18 before Circuit Court Judge Randal Valenciano. His bail was set at $250,000.
Sharon Kanahele filed the paperwork, pro se, but wrote it in the first person and described several incidents of abuse and included written death threats Victoria Kanahele received via text messages from Cruz.
“Chris pick me up and took me to Kokee,” an allegation against Cruz states. “He hit me two times and stabbed me on my left leg with scissors three times. Our daughter was present at this time.”
Minors cannot fill out the paperwork, a court clerk told The Garden Island. A petition has to be filed on behalf of the minor, the clerk said.
The clerk said a judge would be confused if the writing was in the first person, so it would be best if the person writing on behalf of the minor did their best to explain the situation to them.
Alton Amimoto, Kauai County deputy chief court administrator, said although he will not speak for the judge, the court can’t infer that the petitioner made a mistake on her paperwork.
“The court can only act on evidence presented to it and that’s it,” he said. “They don’t investigate. That’s the job of the police or the applicant.”
A petitioner files an ex-parte temporary restraining order, which in turn is reviewed by a judge within 24 hours, said Stacey Joroff, a Kauai County family lawyer who did not work on the Kanahele or Cruz case.
Once a TRO gets approved by a judge, a hearing is scheduled within 10 to 15 days and the respondent gets served by a sheriff or a KPD officer, she said.
That hearing date is crucial to both sides, because it’s the day that the respondent gets to defend himself or herself against the allegations made against them in the petition, Joroff said.
If the respondent doesn’t attend the hearing, the TRO is granted automatically and becomes a protective order for the duration of however long the petitioner requests, Joroff said.
In her petition, Sharon Kanahele asked the court to grant the protective order for a duration of five years against Cruz.
The maximum time allowed is three years, but could be as little as a few weeks, Joroff said.
Sharon Kanahele described another incident in the petition in which she said Cruz pushed Victoria Kanahele “out of his truck while driving down the road” in the winter of 2012.
The petition includes several graphic alleged incidents, which describe how Cruz sent Victoria Kanahele 28 voice messages threatening to hurt her. One allegation claims he sent her a text message threatening to kill her if she didn’t tell him where his daughter was.
On page four of the petition, Sharon Kanahele requested the court to grant the order because she thought Cruz was psychologically abusing Victoria Kanahele, and domestic violence intervention and chemical and psychiatric evaluation might be required.
People allege all sorts of things, but only through witness testimony, pictures or text messages can petitioners actually prove the allegations, Joroff said.
“It’s up to the judge to make the call at the hearing,” she said.
In Kanahele’s case, the petition never got as far as a hearing date because it was denied before making it further than the initial review process where the judge has to review several TROs in one day.
It’s possible the petitioner didn’t get good advice when filing her paperwork, Joroff said.
For clarification, a parent could include a letter from the minor explaining what happened to them and attach it to the petition instead of writing it in first person, Joroff said.
If the child is too young, that might not be possible, but it would work for someone who is a teenager, she said.
Amimoto said the court understands there are people who represent themselves who do need legal counsel.
“We sympathize greatly with people in need of legal information and legal advice, but we refer them to competent representation,” he said. “We always say you should seek legal advice.”
Sharon Kanahele never did file another petition on behalf of her daughter, but a new petition recently filed by Victoria Kanahele had a hearing date scheduled Wednesday. The TRO against Cruz, who is a detainee at KCCC, was extended to early next year.
The Kanaheles could not be reached for comment.
Other charges Cruz faces include, kidnapping, terror threat in the second degree, reckless endangering in the second degree, abuse of family or household members and resisting arrest.
Cruz’s prior record includes a felony conviction for negligent injury in the first degree in 2001 and a petty misdemeanor in 2004 for harassment.
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Michelle Iracheta, cops and courts reporter, can be reached at 245-0424 or miracheta@thegardenisland.com. Follow Michelle on Twitter @cephira
