Man allegedly threatened wife’s brother with machete in dispute
Judge finds prosecution has sufficient evidence to support felony charges
WAILUKU — A woman testified she lost control of her car, which was pushed into oncoming traffic and onto a dirt shoulder, when it was struck three times by a vehicle driven by her husband.
Her car was in dirt on the makai side of Honoapiilani Highway near Papalaua State Park and an airbag deployed, obstructing her view, when Anthony Limas reached into her car, she said.
“I feel him put his hands into the car,” Inez Pakele said Tuesday at a preliminary hearing for Limas, 61, in Lahaina District Court, convening in Wailuku. “He’s trying to grab me, but the car is still slowly moving.
“I don’t remember him saying anything. I think I was too scared.”
She said she managed to drive away and turned off the highway to hide from Limas before he showed up at the house in Lahaina where she and her brother live later in the evening June 2.
Limas pushed open the door to her brother’s bedroom, where she ran when she realized Limas was at the house, Pakele said.
Her brother, Francis Hussey, testified he stood in the doorway to keep Limas from entering the bedroom and reaching Pakele, who was on the bed. Limas was holding a machete at a 45-degree angle with the blade pointed toward Hussey, he said.
“He was calling her and she didn’t answer,” Hussey said. “And he said to me, ‘I don’t have anything against you, but if you don’t get out of my way, I’m going to cut you.’ ”
Eventually, Limas turned around, put the machete on the floor and walked toward the kitchen, where he and Hussey talked before police arrived and arrested Limas.
After the testimony, Judge Blaine Kobayashi found the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence to support felony charges of first-degree criminal property damage, first-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, first-degree burglary and first-degree terroristic threatening against Limas.
He is also charged with attempted third-degree assault.
Pakele testified that she left Papalaua State Park in the early evening of June 2 after she and Limas argued and he made threats about harming her and her family and going to their home.
She was driving toward Wailuku to get gas before turning around at the pali to go back to Lahaina, she said. Limas passed her, then also turned around before ramming her car three times, she said.
Called as a defense witness, police Detective Jonathan Kaneshiro, the lead investigator, said that in initial calls to 911, witnesses reported two vehicles colliding into each other.
“The callers said the cars appear to be ramming into each other,” he said.
He said Pakele was among the callers.
“Initially, she was just screaming and yelling,” he said.
Another witness, who was on the beach at Papalaua State Park, said he heard tires screeching and walked up to the highway. The witness said he saw a car reverse and hit another vehicle, causing airbags to deploy in one vehicle, Kaneshiro said.
Defense attorney Brandon Segal argued that the evidence didn’t support charges in what was a “mutual road rage incident.” He said Pakele didn’t see who was reaching into her car because of the airbag and dusty conditions.
Deputy Prosecutor Joshua Kent said photos of Pakele’s car showed damage to the rear, consistent with her testimony that her car was rammed from behind by Limas’ car.
Kent noted that Pakele testified she found an out-of-place stepladder positioned outside the house that Limas could have used to go through a bedroom window to get inside. “He was brandishing a machete” and approached both Hussey and Pakele, Kent said.
While Hussey reported seeing the machete, Segal noted that Pakele wasn’t sure what Limas was holding.
Kent said Limas’ conduct “exemplified a true threat.”
Limas, who is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Maui Community Correctional Center, is set to be arraigned June 29 in 2nd Circuit Court.