LIHU‘E — Joseph Hoapili, the 50-year-old Lihu‘e man who was arrested early Tuesday morning on suspicion of murdering his 53-year-old wife Fredlynn Hoapili, is expected to be arraigned in court today, according to first deputy prosecuting attorney Lori Wada. Wada
LIHU‘E — Joseph Hoapili, the 50-year-old Lihu‘e man who was arrested early Tuesday morning on suspicion of murdering his 53-year-old wife Fredlynn Hoapili, is expected to be arraigned in court today, according to first deputy prosecuting attorney Lori Wada.
Wada said Wednesday that Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho would personally handle the case should it go forward, but Wada will be handling the arraignment, at which Hoapili will be formally charged with second-degree murder and will have an opportunity to plead either guilty or not guilty, as well as a preliminary hearing featuring testimony and evidence that could come on Monday.
A district court representative reached Wednesday afternoon was unable to confirm the schedule of the arraignment or preliminary hearing, saying the court had not yet received a formal complaint from the prosecutor’s office.
According to police reports filed as part of the prosecution’s application and affidavit in support of probable cause determination for further detention, which was approved by a judge, neighbor Carl Joseph Cabus told police the Hoapili’s son, John, had come outside and started yelling “Call an ambulance! My dad just stabbed my mom!” two or three times.
John Hoapili told police, according to a report, that he was asleep when he was awoken by his mother calling for help. When he opened his parents’ bedroom door, he saw his father sitting on top of his mother and a knife in her chest. He said his father pulled the knife out and stabbed his mother about three to four more times, and said that his father had been smoking “ice,” and “every time he does he accuses his mother of fooling around on him.”
Other police reports indicated that the suspected murder weapon was a blade attached to a cylindrical-shaped reddish-brown handle four to five inches in length, and that the bedroom had blood splattered on a pillow, sheets, blankets, the wall and the floor.
A final report indicated that after police arrived, Joseph Hoapili stepped out of the house wearing a gray sweatshirt covered in fresh blood and was cooperative with officers. The report said Hoapili’s hands were slippery due to being covered in blood, which made handcuffing difficult.
After he was cuffed, “his body became rigid and he was visibly shaking as he proclaimed in frustration through clenched teeth, ‘I told her I couldn’t take this anymore,’” the report said.
See a future edition of The Garden Island for continued coverage of the case.
• Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
