‘You don’t even belong in Hawaii.’ 2 Maui men hit white neighbor with shovel, feds say
.jpg "Two men from Maui were convicted of hate crimes in a “racially-motivated” attack against a white man, federal prosecutors said.")
Two Maui men hit a white man over the head with a shovel in a “racially-motivated” attack after he moved to a village on the Hawaiian island, according to federal prosecutors.
A federal jury in Honolulu found each of the two men, Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi, 32, and Levi Aki Jr., 33, guilty of a hate crime, according to a Nov. 22 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii.
The harassment began after the victim moved to Kahakuloa, a remote village on Hawaii’s island of Maui, with his family in 2014, the release says. He bought a house in the village with his wife and three daughters after his wife had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and retired.
Residents began to threaten him and say things such as,“This is a Hawaiian village. The only thing coming from the outside is the electricity,” and “You don’t even belong in Hawaii,” the release says.
Alo-Kaonohi’s attorneys declined to comment. Aki’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
While the victim was unpacking his things on Feb. 13, 2014, Alo-Kaonohi and Aki “stormed onto his property” and demanded that he pack up again and leave, the release says. They also threatened to tie him up, drag him and make him “go missing,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The victim told the men that he owned his house and Alo-Kaonohi “dragged his index finger along (the victim’s) jaw” and said, “Your skin is the wrong (expletive) color,” the release says. Aki then grabbed a “roofing shovel” and handed it to Alo-Kaonohi, who began to hit the victim with it, causing a “bloody wound” to open on the back of his head, according to prosecutors.
Alo-Kaonohi and Aki attacked him a second time after he started re-packing his belongings, the release says. Aki “head butted” the victim and hit him in the face with the shovel, causing a concussion and loss of consciousness, according to the release.
Alo-Kaonohi and Aki then kicked him in the side, breaking two of his ribs. During the attack, one of them said, “No white man is ever going to live here,” the release says.
“The jury’s verdict confirms that the rule of law serves to protect all persons in our community from vicious assaults, no matter the color of their skin,” Clare Connors, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said in a statement.
Alo-Kaonohi and Aki will face sentencing on March 2. A hate crime charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Maui is the second-largest Hawaiian island. It has a population of 164,221, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 10% of the population is Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, according to the Census Bureau.