Unconscious man found at Kapiolani bus stop beaten in abandoned building, witness says

The 49-year-old man found unconscious at a Kapiolani bus stop was on his knees pleading for his life before being fatally beaten for a half-hour in an abandoned building, a witness told police.

A woman sleeping on the second floor of an abandoned building awoke to yelling outside her bedroom door in the early morning of Aug. 28, court documents filed Tuesday in Honolulu District Court show.

Joey Nguyen was found unconscious at 4:15 a.m. Aug. 28 at a Kapiolani bus stop near the defunct Stats Sports Bar at 1687 Kapiolani Blvd. and was taken to Straub Medical Center, where he died.

The two men suspected of second-degree murder appeared in District Court Tuesday and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday. A judge confirmed the $1 million bail for each of the suspects — Nicholas Payne, 36, and Chu Lun Aiona, 39.

The woman said Aiona held the victim, identified as Nguyen, in a frontal chokehold, but he escaped and began running through the second floor of the building, apparently looking for a way out, a police affidavit said.

Payne and Aiona blocked his escape, then punched and kicked him repeatedly in the face and body, which the woman said lasted for about 30 minutes, the affidavit said.

The Medical Examiner’s Office said Nguyen died of blunt force head injury and ruled it a homicide.

Aiona turned himself in to police on Aug. 29.

The witness identified Payne in a photographic lineup, and police arrested him on Friday.

Payne has a history of convictions including petty theft, felony drug offenses, abuse of family members and criminal trespassing.

Aiona has a lengthy conviction record for felonies including car theft, misdemeanor abuse of family, terroristic threatening, reckless endangering and petty theft.