LIHU‘E — The Hawai‘i Paroling Authority recently reduced the sentence of Darren Galas, who was convicted of assault in the first degree in 2018 in connection to the 2006 death of his wife Sandra Galas.
HPA granted Galas’s request for a six-month reduction of his sentence on March 31, moving his minimum release date to May 2, 2026. His maximum release date is currently set at May 1, 2028.
Galas was originally charged with murder in the second degree, but in 2018 pleaded no contest for a reduced charge of assault in the first degree, for which he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
“They gave him a minimum sentence of eight and a half years, and now they’re cutting that up,” Sandra’s father, Larry Mendonca, said after hearing about the reduction. “I can only take so much.”
“This is the kicker,” he added. “As long as he is in jail, he can apply for a reduction every single year.”
The decision came as a disappointment to YWCA Executive Director Renaé Hamilton-Cambeilh, who has worked with the Mendonca family to raise money for the victims of domestic abuse.
“It definitely sends the wrong message about domestic violence and the value of victims’ lives,” she said. “Darren hasn’t really taken responsibility for his actions. To reward somebody who hasn’t taken accountability for his actions by reducing their sentence is a further injustice to Sandy’s family.”
Sandra Galas was 27 when she was found strangled in her car at her ‘Ele‘ele home on Jan. 25, 2006.
The case went cold for several years until a grand jury returned an indictment against Darren Galas in October 2012.
The couple married in 1999 and separated in 2005. That year, Sandra Galas filed for divorce and wrote several emails to her attorney saying that she was a victim of domestic violence.
After the indictment, Darren Galas was released on bail and spent several years out of custody as a different regime of prosecutors prepared their case.
At the time, former Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar, who reached the 2018 plea deal, said the 2012 indictment was rushed, putting the case on bad footing. This forced prosecutors m into a position where the deal for the lesser charge was the best option
Kollar called the eight and a half year assault sentence “an imperfect measure” but “a measure of justice,” according to past The Garden Island reporting.
Mendonca, 80, remains convinced of Galas’s guilt and has relentlessly pursued the case for years.
The case has taken a toll on him, he said, and he has had a recent heart attack and a stroke which doctors attribute to high-stress levels.
Additionally, Mendonca said that he had not been able to see his grandkids — Sandra and Darren’s children — reporting that his efforts to press charges against their father had left them unwilling to speak with him. Mendonca holds out hope that they will be able to reconnect.
Along with Sandra’s mother, Toshie, and brother Lawrence Jr., Mendonca started the Sandy G. Golf Tournament to raise funds for the YWCA of Kaua‘i to help victims and survivors of domestic violence and to keep her memory alive.
“She turned out to be a blessing of a person,” said Mendonca.“Her life was just starting.”
Hamilton-Cambeilh knew Sandra as a young woman while teaching at St. Catherine’s School in Kapa‘a.
“She was just a bright light. She was kind and compassionate to others, and just exuded the spirit of Aloha,” she said. “To have her life cut short is really a loss to everyone.”
Mendonca still frequently volunteers with the YWCA, which features a monument to Sandy outside of their Lihu‘e building.
The memorial displays two bronze cranes representing the victim’s two sons and a plaque that reads:
“Let Sandy’s life be a catalyst for our Kaua‘i ‘ohana to demand an end to violence against women and justice for all victims.”
