Couple charged in choking death of 6-year-old

A Hawaiian Paradise Park woman and her wife are charged in the murder and abuse of a 6-year-old boy and with trying to cover up evidence in his 2018 strangulation death.

A Kona grand jury charged the women in the 2018 Halloween death of Mazen Kaniela Nihipali-­Moniz, also known as BK Englio, of Kailua-Kona. The cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, according to Deputy Prosecutor Chase Murray, who is handling the case.

Kuuipo Leinaala Nihipali, 32, of Hawaiian Paradise Park appeared Monday before Judge Henry Nakamoto in 3rd Circuit Court after the grand jury returned an indictment July 31 charging her with one count of second-­degree murder for failing to seek medical attention for the child; one count of being an accomplice to second-­degree murder; six counts of abuse of a family or household member; two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening; one count of tampering with physical evidence; and one count of hindering prosecution.

Nihipali’s wife, Ashley Rose Nihipali, 34, also known as Ashley Balai, also appeared in court on one count of being an accomplice to second-degree murder; six counts of felony abuse of a family or household member; two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening; and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

Their trial is set for November. Both remain in custody in lieu of $1 million bail each.

Murray said Kuuipo Nihipali’s mother had adopted Nihipali-Moniz and his twin brother, 3-year-old sister, 4-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister.

Sometime last year the mother ran into some difficulties when Nihi­pali and her wife volunteered to watch over the children. Murray said there was a power-of-­attorney document to transfer guardianship to Kuuipo and Ashley Nihipali.

The children are biological siblings. The married couple is not related to the children.

At about 4:30 p.m. Oct. 31, police responded to a call from the Kailua Fire Station of an unconscious 6-year-old boy later identified as Nihipali-Moniz, who was brought to the station by Ashley Nihipali, Murray said.

It was initially reported that an unknown male teenager had choked the child that day at an apartment complex in the 74-900 block of Manawalea Street in Kailua­-Kona.

“We found out pretty quickly that that wasn’t the case. As charged, Ashley and Kuuipo were the ones that actually committed the murder,” Murray said Tuesday during a phone interview with the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser.

Nihipali-Moniz was taken to Kona Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Authorities took the victim’s siblings into protective custody Nov. 1.

Murray said, “There was physical evidence that (Ashley and Kuuipo Nihipali) concealed or removed before police could get to it.”

He praised the Hawaii Police Department for thoroughly investigating. “This was a very difficult case,” he added.

Court documents unsealed Tuesday revealed the two women had choked and been physically abusive to Nihipali-Moniz, his twin brother and his 4-year-old brother from June 2018 to October.

“These kids were subject to not only strangulation, but other forms of abuse,” Murray said.

Ashley Nihipali was convicted in 2010 of misdemeanor shoplifting.

Ashley and Kuuipo Nihipali … by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd