A Hawaii island man has been charged with manslaughter in the death of his 3-year-old niece.
Marley Makanani was found unconscious with labored breathing at her Waimea home on Friday and was taken to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where doctors found suspicious bruising on her body.
That night, she was flown to Kapiolani Hospital for Women & Children on Oahu and died two days later. Her sisters, 2 and 6, were taken into protective custody.
Police arrested Ezekiel Wakinekona, 37, on Friday at the North Hawaii Community Hospital on suspicion of abuse of a family or household member. He was charged Sunday night with manslaughter in Makanani’s death and two counts of abuse for injuries to Makanani’s sisters.
Wakinekona made his initial court appearance Tuesday and was being held on $12,100 bail at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center. His next court date is Thursday.
According to court affidavits, Wakinekona found Makanani partially submerged in the bathtub with restricted breathing on Friday. While Makanani was being treated at the emergency room, a doctor noticed several bruises on both legs and a laceration on the left hip, consistent with signs of child abuse. Makanani was in a coma from the near drowning and physical abuse.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Makanani sustained brain damage from a near drowning and head trauma from child abuse. The manner of death was ruled a homicide, and other significant conditions included abusive abdominal injuries.
Makanani’s older sister was examined at Kona Community Hospital and found to have numerous bruising in different stages on her entire rear end, legs and left ear. She also had a lump on the back of her head and complained of pain to her left rib cage, saying at one point "Uncle Eze did this to her," court documents said.
Her younger sister had a cut lip and facial marks. All three girls had lived with Wakinekona for about two months.
Tiffany Ching, whose cousin is the father of the three girls, said she wanted Wakinekona to be charged with murder.
"She had so much life in her, so much energy," Ching said. "She had the biggest smile — big smile and big eyes."
Ching, 26, said Makanani and her younger sister lived with Ching’s aunt in Nanakuli for about nine months last year. During that time, Ching would bring her 3-year-old daughter to play with the sisters.
"She loved to get her nails painted, putting on lip gloss, making her hair," she said of Makanani.
In the fall, Makanani’s mother brought her oldest daughter from the mainland and picked up her two younger daughters. Ching didn’t know why Makanani’s mother picked up the girls, but she took them to Hawaii island.
"I cannot honestly say why she didn’t leave them here," she said. "They were OK, the two of them. She just came here and she took them, and we never seen them ever again."
Ching said she didn’t know why the mother left the three children in Waimea, but KITV reported the mother left them with Wakinekona until she could provide for her daughters.
Ching’s aunt tried to stay in touch with her grandchildren — Makanani and her sisters — but their mother’s number was changed and the family lost contact.
On Saturday, Ching’s family got word that Makanani was at the hospital, and they went to see her. She said the family was shocked to hear from Makanani’s mother, Tasha Nihau-Lindsey, that the girls had been staying with Wakinekona, and wondered how long the abuse had lasted.
Ching’s cousin, the girls’ father, did not know what had happened on Hawaii island, Ching said.
"We didn’t know anything," she said. "We were under the assumption the girls were with Tasha. We didn’t know anything until they brought Marley here to the hospital."
She said Makanani had bruises all over the front of her body and burns on her chest, face, arms and underside of her toes. She also had scrapes on her face, and it appeared some of her hair might have been pulled out.
"It didn’t look like cigarette burns," she said. "I’ve never seen anything so horrific, just that image of her and her body like that, her body beaten and broken. I can still see it in my head sometimes when I close my eyes. I wished I never saw that image of her like that."
