HILO — The mother of a 31-year-old Puna woman who was allegedly abducted at gunpoint Dec. 30 in Hawaiian Beaches said she felt “anger, hate (and) hurt” seeing one of the kidnapping suspects in court Monday.
“I’m just trying to make sense of everything, and it’s hard,” Agnes Nathaniel, mother of Rochelle “Shelley” Guyer, said after the initial appearance of 26-year-old Nikki Nasario of Pahoa in Hilo District Court.
Nathaniel said she’s “just praying to God that we get justice.”
Hilo District Court Judge Harry Freitas ordered Nasario, who’s charged with kidnapping, second-degree assault and first-degree terroristic threatening to return 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Freitas said he received word that Nasario’s co-defendant, 25-year-old Joshua Sosa of Keaau — who faces the same charges — was taken to Hilo Medical Center. Freitas re-scheduled Sosa’s initial court appearance for 1 p.m. today.
Nasario is being held at Hawaii Community Correctional Center on $25,000 bail. Authorities set the same bail amount for Sosa.
Sosa and Nasario are among four people, all acquaintances of Guyer’s, alleged to have hit Guyer in the face with a tire iron and forced her into the trunk of a sedan at gunpoint. The other two suspects, 34-year-old Paul Alisa and 32-year-old Claude Carvalho, both of Pahoa, were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping but released without being charged pending further investigation.
After being returned to the same Hee Street home where the incident allegedly occurred, Guyer was taken by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center, where she was treated for her injuries and later released.
“I think she’s doing OK. She’s having a hard time dealing with everything that’s going on, but I think she’s going to be strong enough to … make sure that there’s justice for all that they’ve done to her,” Nathaniel said.
According to court records, a bench warrant is still outstanding for Guyer, who missed an Oct. 31 court date on charges of first-degree burglary and unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle.
Nathaniel said it’s her understanding her daughter’s alleged abductors blamed her for an allegedly stolen vehicle.
“I pray that God will help her to heal, to guide her, to show her that the life that she was living was not the life that she should have,” said Nathaniel, who added that prior to seeing Guyer in the hospital, she and her daughter hadn’t spoken in a year.
“We’ve had our differences. But no matter what, I’m here for my child,” she said. “… I will be here for every court date.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.