Child abuser's freedom at issue

Prosecutor objects to Makekau remaining on release pending appeal

Jim Dooley

Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall will be asked at an upcoming hearing to reconsider her decision to allow convicted child abuser Rita Makekau to remain free while she claims on appeal that her membership in a Hawaiian sovereignty group makes her immune from state laws.

Crandall's decision last month came after Makekau pleaded no contest to eight counts of assaulting children in what prosecutors called a "house of torture" on the Wai'anae Coast. The ruling has been sharply criticized by city prosecutor Peter Carlisle and prominent Hawaiians.

In a motion asking the judge to reconsider, Carlisle argues that Makekau's appeal is completely without merit and meets none of the legal requirements that allow a convicted defendant to remain free while appealing.

Makekau, 58, claims that state courts have no jurisdiction over her because she is an official of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, a sovereignty group that has been protesting since May on the grounds of 'Iolani Palace.

Courts here have already repeatedly dismissed such arguments, Carlisle said.

"The probability of the appellate courts finding that the government of the state of Hawai'i is illegal and therefore the courts of the state of Hawai'i have no jurisdiction over (Makekau) is zero," he said in his motion.

Walter Heen, a retired judge who wrote one of the earlier decisions cited by Carlisle, said in a letter to the editor of The Advertiser this month that Makekau's appeal "is utterly without merit."

Heen, now a trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, wrote an Intermediate Court of Appeals decision in 1994 that dismissed a claim that the sovereign nation of Hawai'i still exists and that state courts therefore have no jurisdiction over a defendant.

Heen also decried Makekau's crimes "and the unashamed boldness with which she claims the right be known as the ruler of a nation."

Makekau calls herself "Her Highness Rita Kulamika Makekau, Royal Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom Government."

Another letter to the editor, from Ben Henderson, president of the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, said "we were shocked by descriptions of the abuse Ms. Makekau inflicted on her five nephews and nieces, and appalled by her defense that state courts have no jurisdiction over her because she is a Native Hawaiian."

"Ms. Makekau's actions are not Hawaiian; they are not pono; and our queen would not have condoned this behavior," Henderson wrote. "There should be no immunity of any kind for the abuse of children."

Makekau was convicted in the abuse case along with her daughter, Barbara Kalama, and son-in-law, Gabriel Kalama. They abused and neglected the five children of Makekau's sister.

Prosecutors called Makekau the "worst offender" and said the "heinous atrocities" she committed included breaking and chipping the children's teeth with a hammer and using a knife to cause "cuts, bleeding and scarring" of the children's scalps.

One boy was regularly forced to sleep under the house with the dogs, according to court files.

"Life was torture for the children," deputy prosecuting attorney Lori Wada said. "No child should have to endure the cruelties that these children did."

Gabriel Kalama, 31, and Barbara Kalama, 28, pleaded no contest in August to second-degree assault, abuse of a family member and child endangerment. Crandall sentenced them to a year in prison and five years of probation.

The abuse occurred in 2004 and 2005, when the children were 10 to 14 years old.

They were removed from the home in 2006 and placed with foster families.

This week, their paternal aunt wrote a letter to Judge Crandall, protesting the delayed prison sentence of Makekau.

The aunt, who lives in California, said she wasn't told of the abuse until recently.

"We came to see the children last week. We had a great reunion with them. They are beautiful children and they have great personalities," she wrote.

"Judge Crandall, please let justice prevail and do not let Rita Makekau insult your intelligence and make a mockery of the judicial system," the letter said.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.