The prosecutor’s office has secured its first successful prosecution of a defendant in a case involving a woman staying in the office’s controversial safe house for victims of domestic violence, sex assault and human trafficking.

Bryson H. Comilang pleaded no contest Thursday to two felony counts of criminal property damage after he was arrested in December for ramming his vehicle several times into one driven by his ex-girlfriend as she headed home late at night in Moanalua.

Comilang faces up to 20 years in prison for one count of first-degree criminal property damage and up to five years for a second-degree count. A charge of violating a protective order was dismissed.

Comilang’s victim is one of four women living in the prosecutor’s safe house, a 20-apartment complex where the office offers to shelter female victims for free while their criminal cases are pursued. In exchange, the victims must agree to cooperate with the prosecution, including testifying against their alleged assailants at trial.

In the Comilang case the victim didn’t need to testify because the defendant pleaded no contest before the case went to trial.

The safe house, which has around-the-clock security, has attracted national attention because it is believed to be the first one in the country being run by a prosecutor’s office. Normally, domestic violence victims leaving abusive relationships and in need of secure housing turn to nonprofit organizations that run confidential shelters.

The blurring of the line between housing provider and prosecutor has been criticized by national advocates for domestic violence victims, legal experts and others, who say the victims’ interests do not always align with the interests of prosecutors, whose primary focus is getting convictions.

But Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro on Friday underscored the importance of this first prosecution.

“What the case shows is that the concept works,” Kaneshiro told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

He said the victim’s willingness to testify was a factor in Comilang pleading no contest.

However, Casey Gwinn, a former prosecutor in San Diego, scoffed at Kaneshiro’s contention.

“A single case does nothing to prove the efficacy and effectiveness of his safe-house model,” said Gwinn, who is co-founder of the family justice center model, which calls for establishing a single location where domestic violence victims can get the services they need.

He said good prosecutors get successful domestic violence convictions all the time “without having to spend $5 million on a jail for victims.”

Restrictions criticized

Gwinn’s reference was to the amount the city spent to acquire the Makiki apartment complex and the strict rules that the prosecutor’s office imposes on women who stay there.

Gwinn for several years was a consultant to the city, helping to plan a Honolulu family justice center. But Kaneshiro eventually decided to instead open a safe house, which includes bringing services to the women there. Only women without children are eligible for the housing.

Anyone who stays there does so voluntarily but must sign a contract agreeing to abide by a host of rules.

The rules — which include giving up cellphones, stopping use of personal email, not being able to leave the premises without an official escort, having restricted internet access and limiting visitors to only those preapproved by the prosecutor’s office — have not been well received by the women.

Advocates say the arrangement gives prosecutors too much power and control over the women, undermining the healing process of victims who just left abusive relationships in which they had little control and power.

But Kaneshiro said the rules are needed for the safety of the apartment residents and staff and that the women are free to leave the voluntary program at any time if they don’t like the restrictions.

Kaneshiro opened the safe house last year to address what he said was a serious problem of domestic violence victims refusing to cooperate with prosecutors in pursuing criminal cases against their abusers.

But Gwinn said prosecutors across the country are able to get victims to cooperate frequently without having to resort to opening their own safe houses.

National experts say Honolulu’s housing-for-testimony arrangement makes the criminal cases vulnerable to legal challenges on the basis that the victim’s testimony essentially was coerced.

Kaneshiro has said the arrangement is no different from federal authorities providing safe houses for witnesses testifying against Mafia figures.

Public Defender Jack Tonaki, whose office represented Comilang, said Friday the housing-for-testimony issue could have come up if that case had gone to trial.

The cases involving the three other women in the safe house are still pending in court.