A 37-year-old Mountain View man with a long history of domestic assaults was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.
In a deal with prosecutors, Manuel Joaquin Subica pleaded no contest Feb. 19 to bail jumping, which normally carries a five-year prison term. But Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto sentenced Subica to the extended prison term as a persistent offender. Subica will receive credit for time already served behind bars.
In return for Subica’s plea, prosecutors dropped charges of second-degree assault, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, felony domestic abuse, another count of bail jumping, and six counts of violating an order for protection.
According to a document filed by prosecutors, on June 13, 2018, the mother of Subica’s then 3-month-old child told police Subica ordered her to bring the child to him. When she refused, Subica threatened to harm her family, saying he “wasn’t afraid to go back to prison.” When the woman met Subica in the parking lot at 50 Maile St. in Hilo, he grabbed the infant and walked back to his truck. When the woman was unable to retrieve the child, she got into Subica’s truck before he drove recklessly away.
Subica then told the woman he’d drive recklessly until police pulled the truck over so she would lose custody of the child, the document states. Subica then allegedly slapped the woman in the face, brandished a Buck knife, and punched the woman, splitting her lower lip.
Subica told the woman he’d cut her tongue out. He then cut some skin off her neck with the knife. He also grabbed the woman’s phone and threw it into the bushes, according to the document.
The document states a witness told police she saw Subica take the baby back to his truck in the parking lot as the woman yelled, “Give me back my baby!”
The victim told the court in a letter she “learned that TROs don’t make a difference,” according to the document.
She said she was threatened with knives, hit by a car, choked, had her head pushed through drywall and received black eyes and busted lips. The woman also said that while she was pregnant, Subica pushed her down on a concrete walkway.
Subica’s criminal history includes domestic abuse convictions date back to 2004, including two felony convictions for strangling and punching another woman in 2007 and 2008, with one incident taking place while the woman was on her bed with her 14-month-old baby next to her, according to the document.
He also has prior incidents for misdemeanor assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
