Testimony concludes in sexual assault trial
The fate of Kaua’i County Police officer Nelson Gabriel is, after a two-day trial, in the hands of Fifth Circuit Court Judge George M. Masuoka.
Gabriel’s defense, conducted by Oahu attorney Michael Green, rested after calling only one witness Tuesday afternoon.
The sole witness was Melissa Tangalin, who took Gabriel’s 16-year-old step-daughter in as a foster child after child welfare officials moved the girl out of Gabriel’s Kalaheo home three years ago.
The girl was placed in foster care after allegations that Gabriel had sexually assaulted her more than 15 times.
Tangalin testified that the girl lied about almost every aspect of her life.
“I learned not to believe anything she said,” Tangalin noted.
Tangalin said she asked CPS after approximately 11 months to remove the teenager from the home of her and her husband. Tangalin said the couple “were concerned that she would make up a story about us,” Tangalin said.
“She lied about going to a school dance. I don’t know when she’s telling the truth,” Tangalin added.
When a Kaua’i County deputy prosecutor Bryant Zane tried to convince Tangalin of his stated theory during the trial – that the girl only lied when trying to avoid trouble, and not in her allegations of assault – the foster mother disagreed.
“I don’t know what is the truth,” Tangalin said.
Most of the trial’s second day was taken up with Green’s cross examination of the alleged victim, the prosecution’s key witness.
The girl alleged that Gabriel had sexually molested her more than 15 times between May 1998 and April 1999.
The girl spent more than four hours on the witness stand Monday. Yesterday, Green started where he’d left off the day before, belaboring the teen’s alleged penchant for lying and making up stories whenever she was pressured by an adult authority figure.
The most damning evidence of the girl’s difficulty with the truth came from her own diary, which Green quoted from extensively.
“There is never a good enough excuse, without lying,” Green read from the teen’s journal, which she had acknowledged writing.
He also read another entry in which the girl reviewed a teacher’s performance.
“Sitting in class, bored as can be, showing him the finger I always show him … He hates me but I hate him more,” the then 13-year-old girl had penned in her diary.
When asked by Zane why she didn’t write in her diary about the multiple alleged sexual assaults by Gabriel, she answered, “I never wrote about anything that happened, I (only) wrote about my feelings.”
Gabriel earlier waived a jury trial and agreed to leave the final decision to Masuoka.
Masuoka is allowing the attorneys to submit closing arguments in writing, with deadlines of Oct. 2 deadline for the prosecution and Oct. 9 for the defense. Then the prosecution will be allowed a rebuttal, which must be turned in by Oct.16. Masuoka said he would render his ruling approximately two weeks after that.
Gabriel remains free on his own recognizance.
After testimony ended, Zane declined comment on the case. But Green described it as a “one-witness case that basically rises or falls on the character of this girl.”
Green wouldn’t speculate on a verdict.
“That’s up to the judge,” he said.
In addition to the sexual assault charges, Gabriel is also at the heart of a claim filed by two high-ranking police officers that police chief George Freitas interfered with an internal investigation of a harassment complaint against Gabriel that is unconnected to the sexual assault trial.
Freitas has been put on paid leave while a Honolulu investigator looks into the complaint against him for the Kaua’i County Police Commission.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
