Witnesses describe night of attack District Court Judge Trudy Senda ruled Thursday there is probable cause to proceed with charges that Jonathan K. Ibana, 21, stabbed his 14-year-old girlfriend last Sunday night at a house in Wailua Homesteads. Ibana, whose
Witnesses describe night of attack
District Court Judge Trudy Senda ruled Thursday there is probable cause to proceed with charges that Jonathan K. Ibana, 21, stabbed his 14-year-old girlfriend last Sunday night at a house in Wailua Homesteads.
Ibana, whose case now goes to Fifth Circuit Court for proceedings next month, is accused of attempted murder in the second degree and first-degree kidnapping, both class A felonies punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Senda said there is sufficient evidence “to believe that the defendant did commit the offenses.”
Ibana was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Wailua. Detectives said the clothes he was wearing appeared to have blood on them. The clothing was confiscated for testing.
Before his arrest, Ibana had a previous misdemeanor conviction for a non-violent offense and had recently been released from probation, according to the Kaua’i County prosecuting attorney.
Ibana, chained and shackled and wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, said nothing throughout his preliminary court hearing Thursday.
Three witnesses testified to determine if there was enough evidence to send the case to a higher court.
First in the witness box was Dr. Thatcher Magoun, a surgeon from Wilcox Memorial Hospital who treated the 14-year-old victim Sunday night. He said she had suffered “three stab wounds in the back. The first was the worst, in her left flank. It penetrated into her left kidney.”
The second and third wounds were in the girl’s right lower back and by her ribcage, Magoun testified.
While the victim’s condition initially “was guarded,” she is “much improved now. She’s still on intravenous fluids,” the doctor said.
Magoun said the victim, whose name isn’t being released or published because she is a minor, couldn’t testify Thursday but would be ready if there is a trial at a later date.
The second witness Thursday was a minor female whose house was the scene of the alleged stabbing. She described herself as a friend of the victim.
The witness said the couple had been arguing and that the victim told Ibana, seven years her senior, that “she didn’t like the way he treats her.”
The witness said she went to the next door neighbor’s house and when she returned at about 10:30 p.m., she head the victim screaming, alternately calling her name and yelling, “‘Jonathan, stop.'”
The witness said she tried to get into a room where the screams were occurring, but the door was locked.
“Jonathan (Ibana) came out, pushed me aside and ran away,” the witness testified. She the victim “was on the ground, bleeding.”
At this point in her testimony, the teen broke down and cried.
The last witness was county police detective Sam Sheldon. He confirmed that the victim, questioned in her hospital bed, named Ibana as her attacker.
Ibana’s first Circuit Court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 11 at 9:30 a.m.
Ibana, his dark hair combed back in ducktails and with gold highlights in the front, was led from the courtroom after yesterday’s hearing.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
