Aunt, boy were napping prior to stabbing attack

The state released more details in the fatal stabbing of a 4-year-old boy in a McCully apartment after a grand jury indicted the suspect Thursday for murder.

The Oahu grand jury returned an indictment charging Waiser Walter with murder and attempted murder in connection with stabbings Monday that claimed the life of Jeremiah Roke and left a 29-year-old woman with critical injuries.

Walter, 26, was arrested at the scene and remains in custody unable to post bail. Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi confirmed the bail at $1 million.

The city Department of the Medical Examiner identified the child Thursday and said he died from stab wounds to his torso.

Deputy Prosecutor Jamie Nomura told Garibaldi that Roke and his aunt, Walter’s adopted sister, had been taking a nap on a couch in their Lime Street apartment. When the aunt woke up to use the restroom, Walter attacked her with two knives, stabbing her multiple times, Nomura said.

She said the commotion woke Roke, who started crying. Walter turned his attention to the boy, stabbing him multiple times while telling him to shut up, Nomura said.

Walter then again went after the boy’s aunt, who had fled to the bedroom, locked the door and called 911, Nomura said. She said before police arrived Walter pounded on the bedroom door and yelled at the woman to let him in so he could stab her.

Honolulu police said when responding officers arrived at the apartment, it was Walter who let them in while holding a large kitchen knife. The officers ordered Walter to drop the knife, then handcuffed him. Police said the officers spotted the woman standing near a bedroom door bleeding from multiple wounds.

Nomura said the woman suffered 14 stab wounds, some of which lacerated her liver and colon.

Nomura said Walter arrived in Hawaii from Chuuk in January.

Police cited Walter in February for possessing an open liquor container in a public area and in April for disorderly conduct.