Print subscriber but without online access? Activate your Digital Account now.
A 37-year-old man sought since December for allegedly throwing a Japanese visitor from a cliff apparently wanted to turn himself in when arrested Saturday, Kauai County officials said Monday.
On Saturday afternoon a tipster told law enforcement of a possible sighting of Justin Klein at Lydgate Beach Park.
Kauai County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said Monday that Klein approached a group of beachgoers and identified himself.
"It seems as though he was ready to turn himself in," she said.
One of the beachgoers notified police, and officers responded.
Klein’s sister, Jody Pearson, said her brother called her Saturday and told her he wanted to surrender but didn’t know how to go about it. She said she encouraged him to go to the police.
Pearson also said Klein told her the assault was an accident.
Klein is scheduled to be arraigned today in Kauai Circuit Court on a charge of second-degree attempted murder. He is accused of throwing Azusa Ino of Fukuoka prefecture from a 15-foot cliff in Kalalau Valley in mid-December.
Second-degree attempted murder carries a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Klein is being held at the Kauai Community Correctional Center in lieu of $1 million bail.
Ino, 31, was hiking with a companion Dec. 16 when she was thrown from the cliff, police said. She suffered significant head injuries and was hospitalized at Wilcox Memorial Hospital for more than a week. Ino underwent surgery and returned to Japan with her mother near the end of last year.
"We are relieved that he was arrested," said Kazunari Tanaka, Japan’s deputy consul general in Honolulu.
CONSUL Kenji Endo, who accompanied Ino’s mother to Kauai, said consular staffers appreciated efforts by the county police officers. Endo said he last spoke to Ino in early January and that she was doing fine.
On the day of the attack, Klein did five hits of LSD, Pearson said Klein told her.
"They (Klein and Ino) were dancing and jumping on the rocks," she said during a phone interview Monday from Canton, Ga. "He was swinging her by her arms like a little child."
After the fall, Pearson said, Klein fled because he feared what might happen to him.
"He wasn’t intending to harm her," she said. "I believe he was afraid, even though it was an accident."
Pearson said Klein and Ino "were in a relationship to some degree," adding, "She’s not a random individual."
She said they shared a tent in Kalalau Valley. It is unclear whether Ino’s companion was also staying in the tent.
While Pearson said she feels badly for Ino and her family, she said it’s frustrating that there is a perception that they didn’t know each other.
Endo said Ino didn’t say anything about the extent of their relationship.
Blane said Ino had arrived on Kauai a few weeks before the incident.
Police are continuing their investigation into the extent of their relationship.
"It’s definitely something that we’re looking into," she added. "Police have not speculated on the extent of their relationship one way or another."
79