Accused deputy denies knowing assault victim

State Sheriff Deputy Benjamin U. Fonoti said the first time he recalls ever seeing or hearing of the woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her was when investigators showed up at his workplace and showed him her picture.

Fonoti, 30, is on trial in state court for second- and third-degree sexual assault. Fonoti took the witness stand in his own defense Friday. The charges involve sex and sexual contact between a law enforcement officer and a person in custody.

The 47-year-old woman testified earlier this week that Fonoti took her to the cellblock on the fifth floor of the Hono­lulu District Court building on Oct. 10, 2011, and assaulted her.

The woman was in custody for a restraining order violation.

She filed a complaint 10 days later.

The woman picked Fonoti’s picture from a photo lineup of all the deputies who worked at the court on the day she said she was sexually assaulted. However, the description she gave investigators — someone with crooked teeth and ehu, or bleached, hair — doesn’t appear to match Fonoti. She also said the deputy who assaulted her was wearing a cap facing backward and a protective vest.

Fonoti said he never wears a hat because he doesn’t want to mess up his hair. He also said he never wears a protective vest when working at the court cellblock.

He said he willingly gave investigators his dental records and a DNA sample because "I got nothing to hide."

The woman gave investigators the shorts she said she was wearing during the assault that she said had a spot of her assailant’s DNA.

Former Honolulu Police Department criminalist Sean Crabbe testified that there was not enough DNA to reach any conclusions.

Defense expert David Haymer, professor of genetics at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, testified that based on HPD’s report, there was enough of a sample to rule out Fonoti as a contributor.

"That’s someone else’s DNA. It’s not Mr. Fonoti’s," Haymer said.

Fonoti said he was at Hono­lulu Airport working his second job for the Transportation Security Administration when investigators from the state Attorney General informed him that he was under investigation for sexual assault. He said the TSA fired him because of that, but he remains employed by the state.