Charges upheld for woman who threatened cousin with a knife

WAILUKU — Felony charges were upheld against a Wailuku woman who was arrested after allegedly twice threatening her cousin with a knife, then using furniture to barricade the main door to their apartment.

Enrica Haupu, 35, is charged with two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, felony abuse in the presence of a minor under age 14 and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.

She was arrested the afternoon of Dec. 2 after police were called to the apartment on Waipono Lane.

During a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Wailuku District Court, Haupu’s cousin Jessica Ne said she was getting ready for work that afternoon when Haupu repeatedly said they needed to talk. After Ne said she didn’t have time, Haupu appeared in the hallway with a kitchen knife that she first held against her own throat, Ne testified.

“I tried to walk out,” Ne said. “That’s when the knife went up to my throat.”

She said Haupu’s teenage daughter had come out of her bedroom and yelled at her mother to stop. “She looked scared,” Ne said.

She said Haupu yelled at the girl and her brother to get back in the bedroom. Haupu had put down the knife on a desk when Ne tried to use her phone to call someone before Haupu tried to grab the phone, Ne said.

She said she dropped to the ground in the living room while holding onto the phone and was kicked in the back by Haupu. Her daughter, who had come out of the bedroom, was yelling for Haupu to stop, Ne said.

She said she heard sirens approaching when Haupu went into their bedroom, then returned with a pocket knife that she pointed toward Ne and the girl, telling her, “Now you’re taking your aunty’s side.”

Then Haupu put down the knife and used a coffee table, computer chair and small sofa to barricade the front door, saying, “Nobody’s leaving now,” Ne said.

Judge Kelsey Kawano ruled that sufficient evidence was presented to establish probable cause for the charges.

He continued an order releasing Haupu on supervision and prohibiting her from contacting her children and Ne.

Haupu is set to be arraigned Wednesday in 2nd Circuit Court.