Accuser is sister of juvenile victim LIHU‘E — The 23-year-old man convicted of third-degree sexual assault last year for inappropriate contact with a then-15-year-old girl in May 2006 was re-arrested last month and charged with first-degree sexual assault for allegedly
Accuser is sister of juvenile victim
LIHU‘E — The 23-year-old man convicted of third-degree sexual assault last year for inappropriate contact with a then-15-year-old girl in May 2006 was re-arrested last month and charged with first-degree sexual assault for allegedly raping the minor’s sister the same day as that incident, court documents show.
Wyatt Godinez, who was sentenced in February by 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe to five years probation, including a year behind bars, for the molestation, was indicted three weeks later while serving his sentence at the Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center.
The new indictment alleges Godinez subjected the accuser to “sexual penetration by strong compulsion” — constituting first-degree sexual assault, a Class A felony punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.
The accuser was identified in the indictment by name as the sister of the juvenile molested by Godinez in the previous case. The woman, whose identity was withheld in an effort to protect her and her sister’s privacy, said in an interview outside the courtroom on Feb. 18 that she had dated Godinez for two years before the incident.
“He’s a sick, sick man,” the woman said after the sentencing, describing Godinez as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Godinez was indicted on the rape charge on March 11, pleaded not guilty on April 2, and is scheduled to stand trial on May 26, more than four years after the alleged incident.
Bail is set at $20,000, though Godinez will likely still be serving his previous prison term throughout the trial.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
