Hilo man pleads not guilty to kidnapping, sex assault

A 52-year-old Hilo man, indicted on charges related to the alleged kidnapping, sexual assault, terroristic threatening and drugging of a 15-year-old girl Sept. 16 on Hawaii island, had his probation revoked two days earlier in a separate terroristic threatening case.

Duncan Mahi pleaded not guilty Monday when he appeared in 3rd Circuit Court before Judge Wendy DeWeese, who maintained his bail at $2 million, but ordered a bail study, as requested by his court-appointed lawyer.

The judge made reference to Mahi’s violation of probation when he allegedly committed the crimes Sept. 16.

On Sept. 14, Judge Henry Nakamoto had ordered a warrant of arrest for Mahi.

Mahi had pleaded no contest to terroristic threatening and had been sentenced Sept. 26, 2019, to four years’ probation. He had failed on various dates in 2021 to report to his probation officer, to report for random drug testing and to attend a program for substance abuse. On March 9, the state asked for revocation of his probation.

He was arrested, but later given supervised release June 27. On Sept. 13, the state proposed to have his supervised release revoked because he failed to appear in court Aug. 31 for a pretrial conference.

He also violated probation in an apparently separate case, according to online court records in which he pleaded no contest Sept. 26, 2019, to abuse of family and household members, first- degree terroristic threatening and resisting arrest.

In those cases, he is scheduled to appear Dec. 20 in Circuit Court in Hilo on the revocation of supervised release.

Mahi is scheduled to appear before DeWeese on Dec. 21 for a pretrial conference in the abduction and sexual assault case. His jury trial is set for Feb. 7.

Mahi remains in custody at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center, unable to post bail.

At the start of his arraignment, the court first took up the matter of whether to allow extended coverage by the media in person as well as by Zoom, which has been occurring in most cases due to the social distancing requirements because of the COVID-19 pandemic, given the space limitations inside courtrooms.

The state had no objections to media coverage, but Mahi’s attorney objected given the high interest in the case.

“The publicity may taint the jury in this case,” said his court-appointed attorney, James Biven.

The teenage girl was the subject of a Maile Amber Alert on Sept. 16.

The judge noted that Mahi was indicted on 11 felony counts and, in each, a minor was identified as the complainant.

DeWeese said two minor witnesses are expected to testify, so she declined to allow Zoom coverage of the proceedings because it would be burdensome on the staff and difficult for the judge to control what occurs.

However, she did allow in-person coverage of the court proceedings with limits. Those limits include no filming, recording or photographing of the minor witnesses during any proceedings, as well as their entry to and exit from the courtroom. The judge also forbade the coverage by the media of any complaining witness relating to the sexual offense.

(The courtrooms in Kona have been open to the public since March, said Jan Kagehiro, spokeswoman for the State Judiciary. In Oahu Circuit Court, everyone in the courtrooms remain socially distanced.)

Mahi is accused of abducting the girl Sept. 16 from a beach at Anaehoomalu Bay in Waikoloa.

He allegedly forced her to tie up and gag her boyfriend, and allegedly robbed the boy at knifepoint. Mahi then allegedly kidnapped her, made her smoke methamphetamine and sexually assaulted her before driving her to his property in Hilo where he shackled her leg to the inside of a bus.

He provided the judge his address: 211 Iwalani St., located in a residential neighborhood.

A Hawaii island grand jury indicted Mahi on Wednesday on two counts of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of methamphetamine trafficking, one count of sex assault of a minor who is at least 14 and younger than 16 years of age, one count of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of third-degree sexual assault.

The 15-year-old managed to break free Sept. 17 from her captor with the help of good Samaritans at a Hilo restaurant.