LIHUE — A Koloa man was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he allegedly beat his girlfriend and threatened the woman and her children with violence if she reported him to police.
Harry Kapu, 43, pleaded not guilty in Fifth Circuit Court to two felonies — abuse of a household member and promoting a dangerous drug — and three misdemeanors related to his alleged attempts to intimidate a woman he had been seeing since October.
According to court documents, prosecutors are intending to file additional charges and have requested the judge revoke Kapu’s bail and keep him in custody until the case is resolved, on the grounds that there is a serious danger Kapu will continue to intimidate and harass his girlfriend and her four minor children.
According to prosecutors, the boss of Kapu’s girlfriend called police one night in December after hearing that his employee was arguing with a man who picked her up from work and noticed that her social media accounts had been taken down.
Prosecutors said the woman was too scared to talk to police who checked on her at her home in Lihue but eventually broke down and told the officer she had been unable to get out of her abusive relationship with Kapu.
The woman told police Kapu picked her up after she got off work one night and brought her to his home in Kalaheo, where he allegedly slapped her face and punched her in the hip, before suffocating her to the point that she nearly passed out multiple times, according to prosecutors.
After charges were initially filed against Kapu on Jan. 6, his girlfriend contacted the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, claiming the information in police reports were “all lies” and asking that the case be dismissed. The next day, a post on her Facebook account said she had “told terrible lies” about Kapu and begged him for forgiveness.
But according to prosecutors, the woman recanted a few days later during a meeting with investigators, saying Kapu forced her to try to get the charges dropped and told investigators Kapu had stolen her phone and written the Facebook post himself.
A hearing on whether to allow Kapu to remain out of jail on a $14,000 bond was set for Tuesday, but got rescheduled until next week.
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Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
