Consent age key in molestation case

A man accused of third-degree sexual assault and of continuous sexual assault against a child under the age of 14 pleaded not guilty in Fifth Circuit Court yesterday.

Matthew Gayagas, 22, was indicted by a grand jury in October on charges stemming from six alleged incidents involving a minor.

Gayagas’ trial date is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on March 10 in Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s courtroom.

According to court documents, Gayagas was between the ages of 19 and 20 when he allegedly molested the young girl.

The indictment states recurring sexual contact between Gayagas and the girl occurred between the months of May 7, 2005 and Jan. 31, 2006.

Court documents also accuse Gayagas of hand to genital contact with the victim, which, under the statute, constitutes penetration.

Until 2001, Hawai‘i’s age of sexual consent was 14, the lowest in the United States. The age of consent in Hawai‘i is now 16.

In most states, it is against the law to have sex with teenagers younger than 16, as the most common age of consent is 18.

The change of the interpretation in the revised law received media attention close to a year ago in the Fifth Judicial District, as on Jan. 2 jurors began deliberation on a decade-old incident involving sexual contact between a man who was 35 years old at the time of his contact with a then 14-year-old girl.

Eugene Saulibio, 46, was facing charges of four counts of first-degree sexual assault against the victim.

The charges against Saulibio stemmed from allegations that he penetrated the victim; however, as the incident occurred in 1996, when the age of consent was 14, the relationship was defined legal at the time.

Jurors acquitted Saulibio Jan. 5, 2007.

Saulibio, who had won a civil molestation suit in 2005 against a Kauai-born priest, had claimed he was 15 when he was sexually assaulted.