Machete attacker sentenced to 10 years in prison

HILO — A 22-year-old Pahoa man who slashed a then-21-year-old Hilo man with a machete during an early morning altercation Oct. 18, 2014, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison as part of a plea deal.

Atkinson Nakashima pleaded no contest on March 14 to first-degree assault, a Class B felony. Nakashima, originally from Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia, was originally charged with attempted murder for the machete attack on Tanielu Aiava, and faced a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole if convicted of that charge.

Nakashima was eligible for probation on the assault charge but agreed to the “open 10” sentence, meaning he’s eligible for parole.

The confrontation took place at Hale Kawili Apartments, also known as Ash Housing, on Kawili Street just mauka of the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus.

In a courtroom packed with family and friends of both the defendant and the victim, Deputy Prosecutor Jack Matsukawa told Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura that Nakashima and Nakashima’s brother, then a minor, went to the housing complex intoxicated. He said Nakashima, armed with a machete, “was looking for trouble that night.”

Matsukawa said Nakashima’s younger brother confronted Jordan Muao, a transgender woman, and Aiava “came to her rescue and protected her,” and Aiava and the younger Nakashima started to fight.

“And at that point in time, the defendant in this case came up and chopped open (Aiava’s) head,” Matsukawa said. “And one of the witnesses said the sound reminded him of what it sounds like cutting meat. … Because of that (Aiava) had bad scarring, Your Honor.”

Mastukawa said he’s hoping the state’s Crime Victim Compensation Commission will help fund plastic surgery for Aiava.

“I understand that the defendant probably won’t be able to pay much, because he’s in prison, but we would like to have that on the record,” Matsukawa told the judge.

Aiava addressed court and asked for financial help with plastic surgery. He said he feels “blessed and happy” that Nakashima is going to prison and “justice has been served.” He said Nakashima is a gang member and “follower who made the wrong choice.”

“When this incident happened, I thought I wasn’t going to live,” Aiava told Nakashima. “I am so blessed that the spirit of the Lord reached out and gave me another chance to live. The scar that you put on my face is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. It’s just another reminder for me that life is too precious to waste.

“I hope and pray you make the right choice in the future. Gang-banging ain’t going to make you live, brother. It’s only going to make you do worse things.”

Christopher Bridges, Nakashima’s court-appointed attorney, disputed Matsukawa’s version of events, saying Nakashima and his brother went to the housing complex looking for their nephew, “and yes they’d been drinking.” He said their yelling at “1 o’clock in the morning on a stormy night at Ash Housing” caused “consternation amongst the residents.” That included Aiava, whom Bridges said came outside “when he heard a commotion.”

“It’s my understanding he went downstairs, saw these guys that he thought were calling people out — and he gave them a fight,” Bridges said. “He’s a large man. And he attacked Mr. Nakashima’s younger brother … who I think at the time was 17 years old and 130 pounds, sopping wet. And when Mr. Nakashima saw this large man, not pushing his brother, but on top of his brother, pounding him, he came to his brother’s defense.

“In his intoxicated state, he didn’t make the right choice. He lashed out with what he had in his hand, which was a machete. And consequences followed.”

Bridges said the consequences included Nakashima being “beaten unconscious by the complaining witness and his friends after that.”

“He doesn’t remember too much of what happened that night, partly because of the intoxication and partly because of the concussion he got when he was beaten unconscious.”

Bridges called his client “a good man,” said he’s agreed to pay almost $4,700 in restitution and “will revisit” the issue if the court seeks additional compensation. He said Nakashima has a girlfriend and young child and “works every shift he can get at Burger King to support his family.”

“I don’t think anything’s going to be served by sending this young man to prison other than tearing a family apart,” Bridges said. “But that’s something he’s willing to do because he’s a family man. And he will take the lumps for his family. Just like he was willing to do it at Ash Housing, he’s willing to do it today.”

Asked by the judge if he wanted to speak before sentencing, Nakashima declined.

Police said Nakashima’s brother was also arrested for the incident and charged with terroristic threatening. Because he was a minor, his case isn’t public.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.