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A Kalihi woman who told police she stabbed her 79-year-old mother last year as part of a suicide pact will remain in custody for an additional five months.
Janet Wakimura, 49, was sentenced to five years of probation Tuesday for first-degree assault. However, as a condition of the probation, state Circuit Court Judge Randal Lee ordered her to serve 18 months in jail. She has been in custody since Oct. 6, 2010.
Wakimura was her mother’s sole caregiver after her father died of cancer and her brother-in-law died just a month before the stabbing.
Wakimura told police she stabbed her mother, Yoshi, in the neck and chest Sept. 29 but couldn’t go through with stabbing herself and instead called for help.
She told police she made the suicide pact with her mother because she was tired and could no longer provide care. She said the agreement was that if one of them died, the other should die, also.
Wakimura was arrested on attempted-murder charges after her release from a Queen’s Medical Center psychiatric unit.
Lee told Wakimura he wasn’t releasing her on probation for another five months because he wanted her to first find a place to live in a stable environment.
Prosecutor Scott Spallina said he agreed to allow Wakimura to plead guilty to the assault charge rather than face attempted-murder charges in a trial. He also agreed to probation because she had no previous criminal history.
Yoshi Wakimura survived her injuries but died Oct. 17, 2010, of causes unrelated to the stabbing, Spallina said.