Victim in alleged kidnapping, assault suffered brain, kidney damage

A 31-year-old man arrested for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting his girlfriend and three Honolulu Police Department officers at the couple’s Waialae apartment made his initial appearance at District Court on Thursday.

During a virtual preliminary hearing, the HPD officers described Andrew Hopkins as being aggressive and uncooperative after they arrived at the apartment Oct. 18, responding to a call from someone concerned about the 30-year-old woman’s safety. Police initially made contact with Hopkins by phone, but he allegedly declined requests to ensure the well-being of the victim and the couple’s infant child, who was also inside the apartment.

The officers entered the apartment by way of a window next to a door, reaching into the unit to unlock the door from the inside. When they opened the door, Hopkins charged at them, the officers said. After an alleged struggle, which included one of the officers deploying a Taser, Hopkins was brought into custody.

One of the hearing’s witnesses, Dr. Fredrick Yost, a surgeon at The Queen’s Medical Center who treated the woman, said she had sustained severe injuries, including a subdural hematoma, or bleeding between the skull and brain, and a partial stroke. She had also suffered kidney failure and was put on dialysis, he said, although her kidney function is slowly recovering. The kidney failure could have been caused by direct trauma or tied to injuries unattended to for 24 hours or a longer period.

“She’s not back to (being) a normal person,” Yost said. “If you were to talk to her, she would not be like what she was before. She used to be a very functional medical assistant. … She’s not able to do that now.”

The victim was not able to testify because of her injuries, according to HPD detective Edward Hawkins. At one point she was on life support but had improved. Hawkins also said she is not cognizant of the current situation.

“She is only able to respond to and remember her name,” Hawkins said. “She doesn’t remember anything else that is going on.”

District Court Judge Thomas Haia determined that there was probable cause for Hopkins’ kidnapping and first-degree assault charges, along with two charges for assaulting law enforcement officers. Haia decided there was no probable cause for the third charge of assault against a law enforcement officer. The case was committed to Circuit Court, and a hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12.