Kaua’i County Police officer Nelson Gabriel was acquitted Wednesday of 19 counts of sexual assault and a kidnapping charge. Gabriel, the subject of a separate investigation that led to the suspension of police chief George Freitas, had been accused of
Kaua’i County Police officer Nelson Gabriel was acquitted Wednesday of 19 counts of sexual assault and a kidnapping charge.
Gabriel, the subject of a separate investigation that led to the suspension of police chief George Freitas, had been accused of having sex with his step-daughter at their Kaua’i home over a two-year period when the girl was 11 and 12 years old.
Gabriel, who denied guilt, was tried in late-September last year in a judge-only trial by Fifth Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka.
Gabriel’s step-daughter was the primary witness against him. In his ruling, Masuoka wrote that the now-16-year-old girl’s testimony “was not credible.”
Gabriel’s Oahu-based attorney, Mike Green, wasn’t surprised Wednesday by the verdict.
“The testimony was from a child who had admitted lying to authority figures for years,” Green said. “The court revisited the numerous lies and inconsistencies over the years as related to this child. Because there were no witnesses to her allegations, the court was left with having to believe solely in her testimony beyond a reasonable doubt” if there was to be a guilty verdict.
During one afternoon-long series of questions during the trial, Green led the girl through multiple instances when she allegedly lied to teachers, foster parents and her mother.
Then Green introduced into evidence a diary the girl kept during the time when she had claimed her step-father had sexually abused her. Although those alleged events weren’t mentioned, the diary was full of obscenity-laced tirades against her step-father.
“‘I hate that man named Nelson who took my mother away from me,'” Green read from the diary the girl had admitted was hers and in her handwriting.
Police chief George Freitas, recently reinstated to his job but still facing three Police Commission allegations, including one that he hindered an investigation into other charges against Gabriel, expressed relief Wednesday over the verdict involving Gabriel.
“I am glad for everyone’s sake that it’s over with,” Freitas said, adding that Gabriel’s family “will need a lot of support and I hope they get it.”
Freitas had no comment about when or if Gabriel, who was reassigned to dispatch detail after being charged, would be reinstated to patrol duties.
Police Commission member Mike Ching said he doesn’t think Masuoka’s ruling has any bearing on the three remaining allegations against the chief.
“I can’t speak for the rest of the commission, but in my mind I never tied the two cases together. The complaints should stand alone,” Ching said of the accusations filed with the commission by police Lt. Alvin Seto and now-retired inspector Mel Morris.
Seto had no comment Wednesday after Masuoka’s verdict.
There are still misdemeanor charges pending in District Court alleging that Gabriel harassed a female co-worker in police dispatch, where he was transferred last year after being charged with felony sexual assault against a minor. One of the pending allegations that led to Freitas’ suspension is that the chief interfered with an internal Police Department investigation of the alleged incident involving the female dispatcher.
County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Soong couldn’t be reached for comment on Wednesday’s verdict.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
