Big Island man pleads not guilty to 11 felony charges related to abduction of 15-year-old girl
Sep. 27—The 52-year-old Hilo man, indicted on charges related to the alleged kidnapping, sexual assault, terroristic threatening and drugging of a 15-year-old girl on Hawaii island, pleaded not guilty today in the 3rd Circuit Court in Kona this morning.
Duncan Mahi appeared in court before Judge Wendy DeWeese.
The judge maintained bail at $2 million. She set his trial for Feb. 7.
The court first took the matter up of whether to allow extended coverage of the case by the media in person by Zoom, which has been occurring in most cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, given the space limitations requiring distancing inside courtrooms.
The state had no objections to media coverage, but Mahi's attorney objected given the high interest in the case.
"The publicity may taint the jury in this case, " said his attorney, James Biven.
The teen was the subject of a Maile Amber Alert on Sept. 16.
The judge noted that Mahi was indicted on 11 felony counts and in each a minor was identified as the complainant.
DeWeese said that two minor witnesses are expected to testify, so she declined to allow Zoom coverage of the proceedings because it would be burdensome on the staff and difficult for the judge to control what occurs. However, she did allow in-person coverage of the court proceedings with limits, including no audio or video recordings of the minors.
Mahi is accused of abducting Sept. 16 the girl from a beach at Anaehoomalu Bay in Waikoloa.
He allegedly forced her to tie and gag her boyfriend and allegedly robbed him at knifepoint. Mahi then allegedly kidnapped her, made her smoke methamphetamine and sexually assaulted her before driving her to his property in Hilo where he shackled her leg to the inside of a bus.
A Hawaii island grand jury indicted Mahi Wednesday on two counts of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of methamphetamine trafficking, one count of sex assault of a minor who is at least 14 and younger than 16 years of age, one count of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of third-degree sexual assault.
The 15-year-old managed to break free Sept. 17 from her captor with the help of good Samaritans at a Hilo restaurant.
