LIHU’E — A Kaua’i restaurant worker was sentenced to 40 years in prison yesterday for sexually assaulting a Koloa woman in his home more than a year ago. Judge George Masuoka could have imposed a 20-year sentence but doubled the
LIHU’E — A Kaua’i restaurant worker was sentenced to 40 years in prison
yesterday for sexually assaulting a Koloa woman in his home more than a year
ago.
Judge George Masuoka could have imposed a 20-year sentence but doubled
the sentence apparently due to the harshness of the date rape
incident.
Deputy Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho asked Masuoka to impose
a life sentence, but the judge denied the request.
“This is the first case
I have seen that a defendant has gotten a consecutive sentence for a one-day
incident, an acquaintance rape,” Iseri-Carvalho said.
On Jan. 21, a
Circuit Court jury found Ruben Garcia, 36, of Po’ipu, guilty on 12 counts of
first-degree sexual assault, two counts of assault and one count of
kidnapping.
“It was a brutal sexual assault,” Iseri-Carvalho said. “She had
been subjected to his sexual demands for a period of over three hours.”
The
woman suffered bruises to her neck from having been choked. A family
physician, who initially treated the victim, said the marks came from
choking.
Iseri-Carvalho said the woman also sustained bleeding and had
abdominal and internal pain in the attack.
Garcia had argued that the
incident was consensual sex and that the bruises were love
marks.
Iseri-Carvalho said Garcia showed no remorse during the
sentencing.
In addressing the defendant, the victim said her attacker had
ruined her life.
Since the attack, the woman, according to
Iseri-Carvalho, has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, has had
flashbacks of the attack, has gone through psychiatric counseling, has lost
weight, and is no longer able to work.
According to the court testimony,
Garcia went out for drinks with the woman in Nawiliwili Harbor.
Garcia
worked as a cook at Keoki’s Paradise Restaurant in Po’ipu and the woman worked
at another restaurant in Po’ipu.
Later that night, the woman drove Garcia
to his home in Po’ipu and dropped him off with the intent of leaving.
But
Garcia asked her to stay. She agreed and entered his home. There, during the
morning hours of March 1, 1999, he attacked her.
The woman reported the
attack on March 2. Garcia was arrested by Kaua’i police but was released due
to lack of evidence.
He was indicted by a Kaua’i grand jury on May 17,
arraigned on May 25 and confined to the Kaua’i Community Correctional Center in
Wailua after he failed to post $82,000 bail.
Garcia was represented by
Deputy Public Defender Ed Acoba.
