Taxi driver convicted of sexual assault

A Honolulu taxicab driver accused of sexually assaulting two female passengers in separate incidents was found guilty Friday in connection with one of the cases.

Enio Tablas, 54, was found guilty of two counts of third-degree sexual assault involving a then-21-year-old woman he picked up after midnight July 5, 2014. He faces up to five years in prison on each count when he is sentenced Jan. 27, and will have to register as a convicted sex offender, according to a spokesman for the city prosecutor’s office.

Under city rules, Tablas was allowed to keep his taxi certificate while the cases were pending. Although he remains free on bail, he likely won’t be allowed to continue operating a cab.

"When we have verified his conviction, we will take action to ensure the safety of consumers," said Sheri Kajiwara, city Department of Customer Services executive director, who oversees taxi driver certificates. "I will have to check with the licensing administrator to make sure everything is in place to pull his license. We have never had a conviction of this kind before."

The charges against Tablas were highlighted in a September Honolulu Star-Advertiser series about the city’s oversight of the taxi industry. Although Tablas was jailed in connection with the charges, once he posted bail he was able to go back to work as a cabdriver.

The two sexual assault cases were separated, and the Circuit Court jury that convicted him Friday was not told about the other case.

In the case decided Friday, the woman, now 23, testified that she had been drinking with some friends in Waikiki and was walking home when Tablas approached her and offered her a free ride. There were already two Australian men riding in the cab, so the woman said she felt safe.

Although the men urged Tablas to drop off the woman first because she lived nearby, Tablas testified that he already had instructions to take the men to a club near Keeaumoku and King streets. He said he did not know where she lived, so he dropped off the men first. He said after the men left, the woman did not want to go home, so he brought her to Kahala Beach.

The woman, whom the Star-Advertiser is not naming because of the nature of the crime, testified that she wanted to go home, but she drifted in and out of consciousness during the ride. "The next thing I remember is being parked and being assisted out of the car by the cabdriver. I could barely stand on my own. He had to hold me up."

Tablas eventually led her to a lawn chair where he sexually assaulted her. She testified that she was terrified but tried to remain calm so she wouldn’t provoke Tablas. Tablas testified that the encounter was consensual and that she did not resist. Afterward he drove her home and told her, "Remember me … I’m the red cab."

When the woman went to work the next day, her boss noticed that something was wrong. Police were notified, and the woman was examined at the Sex Abuse Treatment Center. She said that after the examination "they gave me a taxicab slip to get home. I broke down. I walked home. I couldn’t take a taxi."

Initially Tablas was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault, which would have carried up to 10 years in prison for each count. One key difference between second- and third-degree sexual assault in this case was Tablas’ state of mind. The more serious charge would have required that Tablas "knowingly" subjected the woman to sex by compulsion; the state would have to prove that Tablas knew there was no consent. The third-degree charge required that he "recklessly" subjected her to sex by compulsion.

Consent is not a defense in sex assault cases if someone can’t consent because of intoxication. Harrison Kiehm, Tablas’ attorney, argued that Tablas had no idea how much the woman had to drink before she got in the cab, or whether she was intoxicated.

Deputy Prosecutor Victoria Chang argued that people are usually encouraged to take cabs home if they are intoxicated. "Drinking and taking a cab home is the safe, responsible thing to do," she said.

No trial date has been set for the second case, in which Tablas also faces two counts of second-degree sex assault. In that case a 21-year-old woman told police she was walking alone along Nuuanu Avenue at 1 a.m. March 29, 2014. She said she’d had a fight with her boyfriend after drinking, and Tablas approached in his red taxi and offered her a free ride. She told police she passed out in the cab, and when she awoke Tablas was raping her. She said he told her to smile and took her picture before dropping her off near Ala Moana Center.

Court records show Tablas was also charged with harassment for an incident in May 2013, when he was accused of waking a sleeping woman on a grassy area of Kalakaua Avenue at 5:45 a.m. The woman told police Tablas offered her a taxi ride, then pulled over near Kapahulu Avenue and touched her without consent. The woman didn’t show up for trial, and the case was dismissed.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Allison Schaefers contributed to this report.