Jurors in the trial of a 26-year-old woman charged in the slaying of a woman at a North Shore vacation rental in 2017 were shown a Facebook video post Thursday of a giggling Hailey Dandurand and her smiling, then-boyfriend Stephen Brown in an attempt by the prosecution to discredit Dandurand’s claims that he was abusive and forced her to participate in the violence.
The video, posted Nov. 26, 2017, was shot just days before the Dec. 7, 2017, break-in at the rental home on Ke Iki Road that resulted in the death of house cleaner Telma Boinville and kidnapping of her daughter, Makana Boinville Emery, who was 8 at the time.
Dandurand blames Brown for the crimes and earlier testified that she was afraid of him. Brown, during his trial in January, pointed the finger at Dandurand as the mastermind who carried out the vicious attack with numerous instruments, including a machete, knives, hammer and a metal meat tenderizer.
Brown was convicted of first-degree burglary, two counts of kidnapping and second-degree murder and is awaiting sentencing Aug. 30.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell showed the video as evidence of what appeared to be a happy couple.
Referring to a petition for a temporary restraining order alleging abuse that was filed 2-1/2 years ago by Dandurand’s criminal defense lawyer, Bell asked the defendant whether the petition says that Brown punched her face with a balled fist and with full power punches on the morning before the murder.
“He abused me in the car,” she said. Bell then showed her mug shot taken at the police station, which showed no signs of bruising.
Boinville Emery, who is now 14, testified that both Dandurand and Brown had tied her up and taped her mouth shut.
In earlier testimony Dandurand said she waited at the doorway outside the room where Boinville Emery was being held and didn’t watch what Brown doing, saying he had already tied the girl’s hands.
Boinville Emery was found with her feet tied to the bedpost and hands tied.
The pair was interrupted when they heard the sound of a man, so Brown left the bedroom.
“But you did nothing to untie Makana?” asked Bell.
“No,” Dandurand replied.
“You knew what was going to happen? An attempt to commit murder?” Bell asked.
With the arrival of a vacation rental house guest, the couple fled through an upstairs utility room window and were arrested later that day in possession of Boinville’s Toyota Tacoma pickup truck at the Mililani Town Center.
During his cross- examination, Bell walked Dandurand through every step of the crime. He asked her about various opportunities during that day when she could have fled but instead chose to go with Brown, including when he went to get a rope and a plastic bag for her to tie up Boinville.
Instead, she said Brown gave her the machete, and she chose to remain with Boinville, who was holding her throat and bleeding, lying on the living room floor next to a sliding door. Dandurand said she was afraid she would be killed.
“You chose to get into the Tacoma truck,” Bell asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“The man who had been abusing you?” Bell asked.
“Yes,” she said.
Bell pressed her on why she didn’t seek help when they were in a public place at the Mililani Walmart, where she purchased a phone using Boinville’s debit card.
The prosecutor also asked why she never mentioned in her petition for a restraining order that Brown had threatened to kill her family members and threatened her with a knife, as she had earlier testified.
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect first name for Stephen Brown.