LIHU‘E — A man who said he witnessed the murder of Aureo Moore continued his second day of cross-examination Monday in 5th Circuit Court. David Manaku, 27, tried to explain the various lies he told law enforcement officials in the
LIHU‘E — A man who said he witnessed the murder of Aureo Moore continued his second day of cross-examination Monday in 5th Circuit Court.
David Manaku, 27, tried to explain the various lies he told law enforcement officials in the days and weeks following the murder. He told the court that he lied to protect himself and Jens Kyler Hansen-Loo.
Manaku and Hansen-Loo are the only two people believed to be present with Vicente Kote Kapika Hilario, 26, when he allegedly shot Aureo Moore, 34, at Anahola Beach Park on Dec. 17, 2010.
Hilario’s court-appointed defense attorney Keith Shigetomi has said all along that Manaku, not Hilario, was the actual shooter. He also accused Manaku yesterday of telling Kyle Akau that he shot Moore for him.
Moore was scheduled to testify against Akau on Dec. 27, 2010. Akau and Hilario have been accused of robbing Moore at gunpoint in the Kaua‘i Village Shopping Center parking lot in August of that year.
Akau pleaded guilty to robbery and reckless endangerment charges last year and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Charges against Hilario were originally dropped in the robbery case, but he was indicted by a grand jury in 2012.
In this trial, Hilario is charged with first-degree murder, along with second-degree murder in the alternative, retaliating against a witness, intimidating a witness and bribery of a witness.
Prosecutors allege that Hilario was protecting both himself and Akau when he shot Moore in broad daylight, after Moore was lured to the park with the hope of buying illegal prescription drugs.
Manaku admits lies
Shigetomi admitted transcripts from six of Manaku’s previous police interviews. He said that, time after time, he came to police to tell them the whole story, but he never did.
Just two days after the murder, Manaku’s initial statements were that he was not present and knew nothing about the crime. He provided false information about Hilario’s clothing and the location of the weapon.
He never admitted his role or Hansen-Loo’s until prosecutors agreed to give Manaku immunity.
After two days in cellblock, it was Manaku who initiated the call to detectives, Shigetomi said. He would tell police his wasn’t in the area, and later that he was jogging in the area he was arrested the day of the murder, where he confronted Hilario and a man he didn’t recognize.
Police would confront Manaku with corroborated information from witnesses that placed him in the park at the time of the murder. They also told him that he could be charged with conspiracy to commit murder, which, if convicted, would mean the same felony time as the shooter.
It was then — and the deal for immunity — that Manaku led police to the murder weapon.
Manaku would tell police he witnessed the murder from a distance, and later that same day he would say he was present but did not know Hilario was going to kill the man.
Then, instead of implicating Hansen-Loo, he made up an identity of the third man, making him an outsider who couldn’t be identified.
Shigetomi asked Manaku if, while in custody in cellblock, he told Kyle Akau, “that you shot Moore for him?”
Manaku said, “I said ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’ but I did not say that ‘I did it for you.’”
Shigetomi also said that Manaku and Akau had a falling out because Akau told police that he admitted he shot Moore.
Manaku denied that.
Shigetomi asked why Manaku kept lying. If the police told him not to worry about the smaller crimes, and if Manaku wasn’t the shooter, how come he kept lying?
Manaku said that he believed that any information provided to police would also be used to implicate him.
“You told police, ‘let’s do this’, and said it was the absolute truth,” Shigetomi said of the police interviews. “But you still did not put yourself at the location or identify Hansen-Loo.”
Every time, Shigetomi said, that police got information that proved Manaku’s story was untrue, he came up with another story.
Manaku will continue testimony under cross-examination from Shigetomi on Tuesday morning.
Chief Judge Randal Valenciano ordered three other witnesses back at 2 p.m. today — Joseph Hansen-Loo, the elder brother of Jens Kyler Hansen-Loo; Ramy Mardonado and a juvenile female.
The witness scheduled to testify Tuesday in the Vicente Hilario trial should have read Joseph Hansen-Loo, the elder brother of Jens Kyler Hansen-Loo.
