Tasha Nihau-Lindsey says she has forgiven the man who killed her 3-year-old daughter because that’s what the girl would have wanted.
"She was always love and joy and happiness," she said. "The person I was before would have been angry and hateful. I know she gave me her spirit. She’s helping me walk positively."
Marley Makanani died Jan. 15 of head trauma, abdominal injuries and brain damage from a near drowning due to child abuse at the hands of Ezekiel Wakinekona — Nihau-Lindsey’s hanai brother, who is also her cousin’s husband.
Wakinekona, of Kamuela on Hawaii island, was sentenced Sept. 25 to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, as well as for the abuse of Marley’s two sisters, ages 2 and 7, and Nihau-Lindsey.
Nihau-Lindsey talked to the Star-Advertiser last week about the sentencing hearing before Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra.
She said she addressed Wakinekona in court.
"I said, ‘I forgive you; I will always love you,’" Nihau-Lindsey said in a phone interview. "‘But I hurt. You took my daughter from me. For the rest of my life I don’t have her. … I weep more and cry long for my baby. I will never get her back. I cannot harbor that kind of feelings. I feel very hurt and very betrayed because I trusted you so much.’"
The betrayal and lies "tore my heart to pieces," Nihau-Lindsey said.
The abuse Nihau-Lindsey suffered at Wakinekona’s hands stemmed from an argument and fight the two had in September 2011.
"He grabbed my neck, and I pushed him away," she said, adding that the incident happened in front of her children and his. She left the home, and later got a police escort to help her remove her things.
That’s when police saw a mark on her neck, and she agreed to press charges.
Despite that history, Nihau-Lindsey left her girls with the Wakinekonas on Hawaii island on Nov. 11, her youngest’s birthday, so she could move to Las Vegas and get on her feet financially.
She said she never thought Wakinekona would abuse the kids because he was a boys’ football coach.
But now she wonders if Wakinekona’s abuse of her children was in retaliation for the fight the two had.
"I should have seen something," she conceded.
But whenever she tried to schedule a visit, the Wakinekonas said they were too busy, she said.
At trial, Wakinekona’s wife, Kahealani, testified that on Friday, Jan. 13, Wakinekona came running to her, carrying the 3-year-old, who was drenched after being pulled from the bathtub. Marley was making a "gurgling sound," she said.
Marley was later taken from Hawaii island to a Honolulu hospital, where she died two days later. A hospital doctor said he found bruising to her face and legs, what looked like a burn on her chest, a laceration near her groin, and multiple abrasions and scabs on her legs.
Marley was a joy to be around, always happy, with a bright smile, and frequently volunteering to cook and clean, Nihau-Lindsey recalled.
"She was my big helper," she said. "She just had to give me a smile and bat her long eyelashes. … She was always a bundle of joy. When we remember her, she would want us to remember her by how she was — her happiness and true love — not by how she lost her life."
In January, after Marley’s death, Child Welfare Services took custody of Nihau-Lindsey’s other two girls. On July 27, Nihau-Lindsey’s aunt was able to take them into her care.
Nihau-Lindsey visits her daughters, Taimani, 2, and Journey, 7, weekly.
"Journey’s very open and talks about Marley a lot. ‘She lives up in heaven. She’s an angel,’" she said. "I’m really proud of how strong they are.
"But one thing they don’t understand is why they can’t come home with me," Nihau-Lindsey said without elaborating.
She said her focus now is getting her kids back.
But for all the hurt she’s endured, she said that her girls are a source of strength.
"This is not the end for us," she said.
