Community service ordered for man who assaulted coworker

Prosecutor: ‘Pride and alcohol’ fueled confrontation

WAILUKU — A man convicted of assaulting a coworker was ordered to perform 120 hours of community service as part of one year’s probation for the crime that a deputy prosecutor said was fueled by “pride and alcohol.”

Tily Evaimalo, 48, of Waianae, Oahu, also was ordered to complete anger management classes as part of his sentence imposed Thursday.

“You are a good person,” 2nd Circuit Judge Peter Cahill told Evaimalo. “Something bad happened that night.”

In a trial in March, Evaimalo was found guilty of a lesser charge of third-degree assault of Kevin O’Donnell on Aug. 17, 2018. At the time, both men were working on a Maui construction job for Unlimited Home Services.

The two had been arguing about a work issue before O’Donnell, 42, returned from a bar to the rented house where they were staying. The argument continued, and O’Donnell testified he was slapped in the face twice by Evaimalo before O’Donnell punched back.

O’Donnell said he was blindsided by a punch from Evaimalo’s son, Brensen Evaimalo, and fell to the ground, where he lay in the fetal position while Tily Evaimalo punched and kicked him.

Testifying at his trial, Tily Evaimalo said he tried to intimidate O’Donnell before using his nondominant hand to slap O’Donnell to get him to listen because he was drunk.

“When slapping didn’t work, he beat him down,” Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Teshima said in court Thursday.

At the trial, a doctor testified that O’Donnell’s injuries included a deep and gaping laceration on his chin that required “complex suture repair.”

Teshima said pride caused O’Donnell to become a little obnoxious and also caused Evaimalo “to act like a bully that night.”

Teshima said O’Donnell didn’t want to see Evaimalo go to jail.

“This was an isolated incident brought on by pride and alcohol,” Teshima said.

Defense attorney Wendy Hudson said Evaimalo “has zero criminal history.”

“It really was an isolated incident,” she said.

Evaimalo was given credit for three days he previously spent in jail.

In another sentencing Wednesday, a 37-year-old Kihei woman was sentenced to a five-month jail term as part of four years’ probation for methamphetamine possession.

Kristal Shaw was arrested Nov. 30 when police were making checks in the parking lot of Azeka Shopping Center in Kihei in an area “where drug activity is known to happen,” said Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Hicks.

She said Shaw was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle owned by someone else when police saw a sword in the center console. Police recovered 6.68 grams of methamphetamine, paraphernalia including a pipe, as well as the sword, Hicks said.

Shaw, who spent about four and a half months in jail, had been released on supervision after changing her plea in March. She was arrested again after she didn’t check in for supervision and didn’t show up for her original sentencing date.

Shaw said she was confused — “I live off the grid,” she said — and couldn’t efficiently charge her phone.

“For someone with the name Kristal, you’re not being very transparent with the court,” 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo told Shaw.

Her behavior showed Shaw might not be a good candidate for probation, Loo said.

Defense attorney Cary Virtue said Shaw was “semihomeless” and didn’t have a car.

“You like to live off the grid,” Loo told Shaw. “My grid has a lot of vertical bars in it, and you might prefer that change of scenery.”

Shaw was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.