The preliminary hearing in an attempted murder case stemming from a May 15 stabbing incident at Kapa‘a’s Fujii beach will likely be continued for the fourth time today, according to both deputy prosecuting attorney Mauna Kea Trask and defense attorney
The preliminary hearing in an attempted murder case stemming from a May 15 stabbing incident at Kapa‘a’s Fujii beach will likely be continued for the fourth time today, according to both deputy prosecuting attorney Mauna Kea Trask and defense attorney Daniel Hempey.
Joshua Sesco, 29, of Kapa‘a, was arrested May 16 on suspicion of stabbing 49-year-old Kapa‘a resident Curtis Bupp II, and was originally scheduled to appear in court on May 21.
The preliminary hearing was first postponed until June 3, then again until June 25, and then until today at 1 p.m. in District Court.
With both the state and defense agreeing on a fourth continuance due to an “ancillary matter,” the court will likely postpone the hearing until Wednesday, Aug. 6 at 1 p.m., said Trask, who took over the case from first deputy prosecuting attorney Christopher Bridges.
Trask explained that the delay was not related to any witnesses, evidence or any other factors central to the case, but declined to offer specifics.
Sesco will remain in police custody in the interim with bail set at $500,000.
Bupp said last month in a phone interview that he had been contacted by prosecutors and expected to serve as a witness at the preliminary hearing.
“I think it’s a real good thing. I ought to be there,” he said. “The public needs to know what happened.”
Bupp said that he was hoping that “real justice” is served, saying that probation would be too lenient but that he is “not looking for life without parole” either.
“He should get at least 10 years (in prison) I think,” Bupp said. “That would be long enough to help him change his mind.”
In a June interview with The Garden Island, Bupp said he and Sesco had previously been friends and that the stabbing was unexpected.
“He stabbed me, right then and there,” Bupp said. “He already had the knife when he got out of the car. I saw nothing and was expecting nothing. The next thing I know, he stabbed me.”
Bupp described the weapon as a “butcher knife” and displayed his hands seemingly at shoulder-width apart to approximate its length.
Due to the size, shape and location of the wound, doctors had difficulty stopping the bleeding and, Bupp said, administered five units of blood upon his admission to the emergency room.
He spent seven days in the hospital. Three weeks after the incident, the wound still appeared fresh.
“The knife originally hit me in the belly, and if it had gone in right there, I’d be dead,” Bupp said. “The knife started to cut and go in, but it hit my hip bone.
“It jumped over my hip bone and the whole blade went in, almost to my back,” he said. “It came within one inch of coming out the other side of me.”
• Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
