Hilo Man Accused of Kidnapping Teen Appears in District Court, Bail Maintained

A Hilo District Court judge maintained $2 million bail on a Hilo man accused of kidnapping and sexually assault of a 15-year-old girl over the weekend.

Fifty-two-year-old Duncan Kealoha Mahi appeared before Judge Jeffrey Hawk via video this afternoon for his initial appearance on charges of two counts of kidnapping, first-degree robbery, first-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault, first-degree terroristic threatening and methamphetamine trafficking.

Hawk scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for Wednesday at the Kona District Courthouse at 10 a.m.

Mahi is accused of kidnapping the teen girl from the Waikōloa area on Friday afternoon. She was found nearly 24 hours later in Hilo at Café Pesto.

At the time of the incident, Mahi already was on probation after pleading no contest to two separate cases of first-degree terroristic threatening in 2019. Hawai‘i County Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen said a warrant for his arrest was issued in March with bench warrants each for $2,000. He was granted supervised release over prosecutors’ objections.

On Sept. 13, Waltjen said, prosecutors filed another motion requesting to revoke his supervised release in both cases.

Mahi’s recent charges of kidnapping, robbery, first-degree sexual assault and methamphetamine trafficking are all class A felony offenses and usually carry a penalty of a 20-year prison term.

Prosecutors have provided notice of an intention to seek an extended term of imprisonment, which would subject Mahi to serving a life term as a result of his two prior felony convictions.

Editor’s Note: The 15-year-old’s name was not used in this story because she is a minor victim of an alleged sexual assault.