A Circuit Court judge Thursday sentenced a 20- year-old Niu Valley man to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the 2020 stabbing of a 17-year-old girl on Kahala Beach.

On April 7 a jury found Erik Willis guilty of second- degree attempted murder for stabbing Melia Kalahiki 15 times in the neck, shoulder and hands, leaving her unable to speak in the weeks after the attack and hospitalized for three weeks.

“The facts of this case are truly terrifying,” Judge Kevin Souza said. “This was a random and unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old young lady as she sat all alone on Kahala Beach, and that attack resulted in life-threatening injuries.

“What happened to Melia Kalahiki on July 8, 2020, has not only scarred her physically, but as Mr. Sousie (the deputy prosecutor) has indicated, it has likely scarred her in other ways that are not visible as well, and this attack has changed her life forever.”

The judge also ordered Willis to pay the state’s MedQuest Division restitution in the amount of $83,689.82 to cover Kalahiki’s medical bills on a payment schedule while incarcerated.

The judge gave him credit for time served, which has been two years.

Willis, dressed casually in a long-sleeved white T-shirt, his long, curly hair loose, in contrast to his appearance before the jury during the reading of the verdict when his hair was tied back and he wore a dress shirt.

He read a prepared statement that was somewhat incoherent and, at times, inaudible, but seemed to be asking for mental health serv­ices.

“To be transparent, I am asking for a program of any sort or freedom options that may help my situation under any circumstance,” Willis said.

His attorney, Eric Seitz, said his client has received mental health treatment in the past from the state and has been receiving such serv­ices in prison, and asked the judge that he continues to receive such services.

Seitz said Willis is the victim of abuse, was unwanted by his parents and raised by his grandparents, who were unable to attend the sentencing because his grand­father suffered a severe medical condition.

“I know Mr. Willis since he was born because I live across the street from the house where he was raised by his grandparents,” Seitz said.

Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm said in a written statement: “I hope that this sentence brings some comfort to the victim. Her bravery in standing up to Willis in court and refusing to let this horrendous attack define the rest of her life is an inspiration to us all.”

“The sentence ensures that the public will be protected from Willis’ violent and dangerous conduct for many years to come.”

Deputy Prosecutor Lawrence Sousie said “the attack was brutal and it was unprovoked.”

Kalahiki and her family were not present for the sentencing.

“The family is not here, your honor. You know, scars, sometimes you can see the scars; sometimes you don’t. Sometimes the scars heal; other times they don’t.”

Seitz said he will appeal the verdict. “We believe this case was mishandled from the start by the Police Department,” he said “It was prosecuted in a manner likely to result in its reversal on appeal. We did not feel this case was handled well in this courtroom.”

Seitz said, “He’s now been convicted to something which is subject to a lot of doubt.”

He asked the judge to exclude all suppressed evidence from the July 1 presentencing report.

Prosecutors said that in July 2020, DNA from two of three bloodstains on Willis’ right shoe matched the victim’s DNA, but that evidence was suppressed by the court, so jurors were never presented with that evidence during trial.

The judge said he would have any suppressed information stricken from the report and have the attached police report stricken from an amended report.

“I want to be clear that this court is not going to take into account for sentencing purposes any evidence that was suppressed by this court,” Souza said. “I was the one who issued the suppression order, so I’m well aware of what was suppressed and what was not.”

Seitz on Nov. 16, 2020, filed a motion to suppress evidence because police entered and searched Willis’ grandparents home July 11, 2020, without a warrant.

Officers arrested Willis on the patio. An officer noticed clothes in the washer on the patio, and Willis repeatedly asked for his shirt. One item was a pinkish white T-shirt.

Another was a pair of soiled sneakers. The items were later seized by an evidence technician.

Seitz had also raised the issue of Kalahiki’s failure to consistently correctly identify Willis during a photographic lineup.

But during the trial she identified Willis from his eyes, eyebrows and skin tone.