Graduate says in civil lawsuit that 3 abused him sexually while at Kamehameha Schools

Attorneys for a man who says he was sexually abused as a seventh-grader at Kamehameha Schools filed a civil suit Friday in state Circuit Court against the school and three individuals, including two former employees.

The suit, filed jointly by Talbert Law LLLC and Galiher DeRobertis &Waxman LLP, alleges Daniel K. Kaohimaunu was abused as a minor by a teacher, an administrator and an outside visitor who took him off campus on a regular basis four decades ago.

Kaohimaunu, now 52 and living in New York City, is originally from Hawaii island. He was accepted to Kamehameha Schools in 1978 and boarded at the Kapalama campus until he graduated in 1984.

The civil suit names as defendants Kamehameha Schools, the two former employees as well as the estate of Eugene D. Turchi and unnamed others. The Star-Advertiser is not identifying the two former employees because they were never charged with crimes in the case and could not be reached for comment.

Turchi, now deceased, was a resident of both New York and Hawaii and had an apartment in Waikiki. He was not one of three sponsors designated to pick up Kaohimaunu from campus, the suit said, but no one from Kamehameha Schools ever checked or questioned his comings and goings with the boy.

“We take very seriously that this child was harmed and injured and that affects all of us,” said attorney Patricia Talbert, an alumna. “Once again Kamehameha Schools broke its sacred trust.”

The lawsuit says the defendants are liable for sexual assault and battery, gross negligence by failing to have any security on campus and in the dormitories, negligent infliction of mental distress and negligent retention, supervision and training.

In addition, Kamehameha Schools, which received federal funds at the time, violated Title IX by failing to have any procedures in place whereby students could report incidents of sexual harassment, molestation or assault.

“They trusted Kamehameha School would foster their child’s KS education giving him an excellent foundation for his future,” said attorneys in an executive summary. “Despite this sacred trust … KS allowed unspeakable harm and sexual exploitation to descend upon Kaohimaunu.”

In a statement Friday, Kamehameha Schools said it was “saddened by the tragic events described by Mr. Kaohimaunu, one of our former Kamehameha students. We honor and appreciate the strength and courage it took for him to come forward. He is part of our ohana. We care for him and will continue to work with him to do what is pono.”

Friday’s lawsuit follows on the heels of others, including one by a Rhodes scholar who came forward as a plaintiff in a separate sex abuse suit against Kamehameha Schools last year. A Circuit Court judge last year sentenced James Maeda, assistant band director at the Kapalama campus, to prison after he was convicted of multiple counts of sex assault involving a 14-year-old student.

In 2018, Kamehameha Schools agreed to pay $80 million to 32 plaintiffs sexually abused by the late Dr. Robert Browne, who was then chief of psychiatry at St. Francis Hospital, in earlier decades.

Attorneys said Kaohimaunu and his family would not be talking directly to the media due to the litigation. However, in a video statement released by the attorneys, Kaohimaunu, a promising gymnast in his youth, describes his first uncomfortable encounter involving unwanted touching by a male teacher not long after becoming a student on campus.

He also shares how he first met Turchi at the age of 14 after gymnastics practice and thought he was being invited to go out and eat, not knowing it would lead him on “a journey that affects me till this day.” Kaohimaunu said he ended up spending weekends with Turchi, engaging in “hard-core” sexual acts at the age of 15. Turchi also took him to gay bars and parties, he says.

On a trip with the school’s Concert Glee Club to Samoa, the school official named in the lawsuit set up his sleeping bag next to the student, where they were camping out, and proceeded to sexually abuse him after the lights went out and did the same the following night.

All of that, Kaohimaunu said, has taken a psychological and emotional toll, and he has sought therapy for the abuse and help for his drug and alcohol addictions.