A witness testified in state court Monday that he saw Waianae High School teacher Asa Yamashita stabbed multiple times at Ewa Town Center in 2009, then followed her assailant until police arrested the man a short distance away.
Tittleman Fauatea, 29, is on trial in Circuit Court for murder for Yamashita’s death. His lawyer, Barry Sooalo, said in opening statements that Fauatea will be relying on the insanity defense.
"The majority of the doctors who have weighed in on whether or not Mr. Fauatea is responsible, penally responsible or criminally responsible, the majority of those doctors are going to say that he didn’t understand, he had no understanding about what happened," he said.
Sooalo said Fauatea has a history of mental illness dating to when he was 12 and that he is fine as long as he takes his medication.
The witness, Darren Paiva, said he was backing his pickup truck into a stall at the town center Feb. 27, 2009, when "I seen one guy grab the lady’s arm. He had a knife in his hand and started stabbing (her)."
He said by the time he stepped out of his truck, Yamashita had already fallen to the ground, and her assailant was walking away. Paiva said he couldn’t say for sure that it was Fauatea. But he said he never let the assailant out of his sight until police arrested the man.
Police arrested Fauatea along Fort Weaver Road near the town center. They recovered a knife along Renton Road where Paiva said he saw the assailant throw it.
Fauatea’s trial had been delayed because his refusal to take his medication made him mentally unfit to stand trial.
Laverne Livernoshe said she also followed a man from where Yamashita was stabbed to Fort Weaver Road. She said she didn’t see the stabbing. And she, too, couldn’t say for sure that the man police arrested is Fauatea.
Longs Drugs store cashier Jackie Narruhn had no problem identifying Fauatea as the customer who bought a knife from her just before the stabbing. She said Fauatea gave her $7 for a $6.17 purchase and told her to keep the change.
"He said he was rich," Narruhn said.
Ewa Seed Co. store owner Dean Hashimoto testified that he sold Yamashita some snacks for her daughters, a saimin and barbecue sticks and later saw her sitting on a bench outside his store when he went to take out some trash. He said he also saw Fauatea and exchanged "howzits."
Hashimoto said he saw Fauatea throw something into a rubbish can. After the stabbing, Hashimoto said he went back to the rubbish can with police and found a plastic casing for a knife on top of the rubbish.
Bryan Yamashita said his wife took the day off to volunteer at a fun run at Holomua Elementary School the morning of the stabbing, then walked to the town center for a dental appointment and haircut because her car didn’t start. He said she was waiting for him to pick her up when she was stabbed.
