LIHU‘E — A 53-year-old Lihu‘e woman identified as Fredlynn Hoapili was pronounced dead at Wilcox Memorial Hospital early Tuesday morning after being stabbed at her Kress Street home, according to county officials. Police responded to a call about the stabbing
LIHU‘E — A 53-year-old Lihu‘e woman identified as Fredlynn Hoapili was pronounced dead at Wilcox Memorial Hospital early Tuesday morning after being stabbed at her Kress Street home, according to county officials.
Police responded to a call about the stabbing at roughly 1 a.m. Tuesday morning and arrested Hoapili’s husband, 50-year-old Joseph Hoapili, on suspicion of second-degree murder.
As of press time, he was being held at Kaua‘i Police Department cellblock on $500,000 bail. Police are continuing their investigation of the incident.
There had been a history of violence at the Hoapili home, records show.
In 1995, Joseph Hoapili was twice charged with abuse of family or household members, but was not convicted of the offense in either case.
In March of that year, a police report said Fredlynn Hoapili was “complaining of pain to her left side hip and lower back” following an incident involving her husband.
In a written statement filed as part of the case record, Fredlynn Hoapili said her husband had been drinking earlier in the evening and the two had argued, but both eventually fell asleep.
“Than (sic) next thing I knew he was behind me telling me he want (sic) some wild sex and I said no so he elbowed me on my lower back,” Fredlynn Hoapili wrote, by hand, in the document. “He kicked me off the bed and than (sic) elbowed me on my back this time real hard.”
In a statement to police, Joseph Hoapili said he had not hit nor struck his wife, to whom he had been married at that point for some 20 years. He told police that Fredlynn Hoapili had a disease that caused her to bruise easily.
Joseph Hoapili pleaded no contest to the charge of third-degree assault in lieu of the family abuse charge, deferred the acceptance of his guilty plea and complied with the court’s instructions, earning himself a discharge and dismissal. The conviction does not appear in Joseph Hoapili’s criminal history, according to KPD records.
In August 1995, Joseph Hoapili was again charged with abuse of a family or household member and second-degree terroristic threatening, this time for allegedly abusing and threatening the couple’s then-12-year-old son Kyle. According to court documents, the case was dismissed with prejudice when prosecutors told the judge they were “unable to locate their witness.”
The day after the incident alleged in the latter of those abuse cases, Fredlynn Hoapili filed for a domestic abuse protective order. In the petition, she said she was applying not only for herself but for Kyle and her then-13-year-old daughter Kristie, seeking custody of the children but allowing Joseph Hoapili visitation once every other weekend.
In the filing, she alleged that her husband had pushed, grabbed or shoved her, that he had slapped or spanked her, that he had forced her to have sex, restrained her from leaving the home, owned a knife or another weapon, and threatened to kill her or hurt her physically earlier that month.
She further alleged in the petition that her husband had told her that he would shoot her and the children “just like the family in Hanama‘ulu” — a reference to an incident that occurred that month in which, according to media reports, Janice Noblisse used an AK-47 rifle to kill her boyfriend, their 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old, and finally herself.
She alleged her husband had asked a friend for a gun in front of her and had told her, “If I had a gun right now I would blow you away.”
However, Fredlynn Hoapili filed new paperwork 10 days later, before the court hearing for the protective order was held, withdrawing the petition. The pair apparently stayed together, because in 1998, both Fredlynn and Joseph Hoapili were convicted of third-degree theft for engaging in welfare fraud and were ordered to together pay nearly $4,000 in restitution to the state. Both were sentenced to three days in jail.
Most recently, Joseph Hoapili was convicted in 2008 of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and sentenced by 5th Circuit Chief Judge Randal Valenciano to 15 days in prison and five years probation, according to court records, which also feature a prosecution complaint alleging that Joseph Hoapili had again physically abused his wife.
However, the court documents tell only part of the story as police reports related to the incident were unavailable at press time.
According to a person familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity, Joseph Hoapili allegedly wrapped a phone cord around his wife’s neck and then fondled her in front of their young grandchild.
When police arrived, they reportedly found a pipe in his possession, leading to the drug charges. However, Fredlynn Hoapili was uncooperative throughout the case, the person familiar with the proceedings said, preventing the state from charging her husband with sexual assault and eventually leading to a plea deal that saw a pair of charges — attempted abuse of family or household members and unlawful use of or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia — dropped in exchange for a no contest plea on the promotion charge.
See a future edition of The Garden Island for further coverage of the case.
