A 30-year-old Liliha man accused of raping three women in their apartments confessed to sexually assaulting two of the three women, Deputy City Prosecutor Rochelle Vidinha told a state judge Wednesday after an Oahu grand jury returned an indictment charging him with the rapes.
The indictment charges Asofitu Fio with seven counts of sexual assault, one of attempted sexual assault and three counts each of kidnapping and burglary.
Vidinha did not say which of the rapes Fio confessed to.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins confirmed Fio’s bail at $1 million.
Fio remains in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Vidinha told Perkins that Fio is a violent sexual predator who punched, choked, smothered and threatened his victims into submission, then told them he would kill them if they called the police.
Fio was arrested at his Liliha apartment on Friday after police officials said they were able to match his DNA with evidence from the latest incident, which took place Dec. 1.
In what he said was one of the department’s largest operations ever, Police Chief Louis Kealoha said more than 60 officers canvassed neighborhoods, checked databases, re-interviewed witnesses, reviewed old reports for similarities and conducted surveillance for what police said was a serial rapist.
Maj. Richard Robinson, Criminal Investigation Division commander, said officers on surveillance spotted Fio, who matched the description of the suspect. He said when the officers approached Fio on the street, "he gave answers that raised our suspicions" during the course of their conversation with him.
Robinson said police were able to obtain a DNA sample from Fio that matched DNA recovered from the Dec. 1 incident.
Police declined to say how they obtained a DNA sample from Fio.
Veteran defense lawyer Brook Hart, who is not involved in the case, said police can obtain DNA from a suspect with the suspect’s consent, with a warrant or surreptitiously as long as they don’t violate the suspect’s privacy rights. He said police can even lie to a suspect to get consent.
Even if a judge later determines that police did not obtain the DNA sample legally, a suspect’s subsequent confession can still be used against him if the confession is not connected to or the result of the DNA evidence, Hart said.
Fio’s lawyer, Donald Wilkerson said, "I will definitely be looking into that."
He said, however, "It looks like (police) got consent."
The sexual assaults in which Fio is charged took place in the Kaheka Street area on May 28, in downtown Honolulu June 13 and on Dec. 1, again in the Kaheka Street area.
Up until his arrest, Fio was an employee of Catholic Charities Hawaii. A spokeswoman for the organization said Fio has been relieved of his duties pending the outcome of the case against him but would not say what Fio’s job responsibilities were.
