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Saturday’s stabbing at the Nuuanu YMCA that sent a 35-year-old man to the hospital in critical condition was apparently unprovoked.
An Oahu grand jury Wednesday returned an indictment charging Robert A.C. Midel with attempted murder. Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi confirmed Midel’s bail at $200,000.
Honolulu police said Midel and the stabbing victim rented separate rooms on separate floors at YMCA. They said the 35-year-old man had just taken a shower and was going back to his room when Midel approached him and said, “Eh, you dancing, ah,” to which the man replied he was not dancing.
Police said an argument and fight ensued with the man falling to the floor in front of his room.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Spallina told Garibaldi the victim was stabbed in the eye.
A man who witnessed the attack told police that as the victim lay unconscious and bleeding, Midel said, “Everybody were magical,” and “Still alive,” before stabbing the victim in the neck. The witness said Midel then told him, “Eh, no say nothing, eh,” before walking away.
Three days before the stabbing a shopper at the Ross Dress for Less in the Windward City Shopping Center recorded cellphone video of Midel in the store holding a knife. Police did not arrest Midel but said they took an agitated male from the shopping center to the hospital for evaluation.
Midel has convictions
in Hilo for petty misde-
meanor and misdemeanor harassment, criminal trespassing and theft. He was on probation for felony attempted burglary and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle at the time of his arrest for the YMCA stabbing.
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