Images from a Waikiki hotel elevator surveillance camera show a visibly shaken and frantic 26-year-old Japanese visitor who was allegedly lured, held against her will and sexually assaulted May 1 in a tourist couple’s hotel room, a police detective told a Honolulu court on Friday.
She “appeared scared in the elevator, and was frantically pushing the button and looking back out of the elevator,” said Honolulu Police Department Det. Robert Spickler, who testified at the couple’s preliminary hearing in Honolulu District Court.
Wearing leg shackles, Darrell Dorch, 46, wore a blue jumpsuit and his wife Nagisa Dorch, 35, was in a T-shirt and purple shorts for their court appearance. They are scheduled for a hearing in Circuit Court on May 23.
The judge found probable cause in the charges against Darrell Dorch on three counts of first-degree sexual assault, one count of attempted first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping; and against Nagisa Dorch for allegedly acting and facilitating first-degree sexual assault and two counts of second- degree sexual assault.
Deputy Public Defender Sat Freedman, representing Darrell Dorch, said despite his client earning a six-figure salary, he is the sole breadwinner for his wife and three children, and requested bail be reduced from $500,000 for Darrell Dorch and $300,000 for Nagisa Dorch to $150,000.
Deputy Prosecutor Thalia Murphy questioned why Darrell Dorch needed a public defender if he earns six-figures.
The judge denied the request, saying the Japan residents are flight risks.
HPD Officer Masakazu Kurita, who speaks Japanese, interviewed the victim on May 1 at her Waikiki hotel room after she said she fled from the couple’s hotel at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort.
“She seemed very scared,” he said. She “was sitting on the floor crying,” “appeared sober and coherent” and was “trembling, scared and distraught.”
Kurita accompanied her to identify suspects in a police lineup.
When she saw Darrell Dorch, “she pulled a towel over her head,” “trying to hide or cover her face. She curled down and started crying. She was crying pretty hard.”
Her reaction was similar when she saw Nagisa Dorch, covering her head with a towel, Kurita said. And in both cases, she asked if she could leave, not wanting to be there, he said.
Spickler interviewed the victim through a translator in person and on the phone.
The judge allowed Spickler’s testimony in place of testimony from the victim despite objections from Freedman, who called it hearsay.
Spickler said the victim told him she already had an airline ticket for Monday to return to Japan, and had to go back to work. She said she is unable to return in May as it is an inconvenience, but is willing to return for trial.
The victim told the detective she met the couple at their hotel pool at 1 p.m., swam and had drinks. She said she was invited to the couple’s room by the wife to pick out an outfit for Nagisa Dorch to wear out to dinner that night with her husband.
Spickler said Darrell Dorch was to stay by the pool to reserve their seats, but entered the room shortly after the women got upstairs.
The couple, she said, started making out and when the victim tried to leave, she said she was told by the couple she had to stay and that she was drunk. She then ended up on the bed.
“They both were taking off her clothes and kissing her,” Spickler said. “She stated she got sick and threw up.”
She said she tried several times to get out of the room, but Darrell Dorch pulled her hair, slapped her 20 times, and twice punched her in the cheek with his fist, Spickler said.
Spickler testified that Nagisa Dorch allegedly translated demands made by her husband, telling the victim to perform oral sex on him. The wife also allegedly told the victim that if she made him feel good she could leave.
Darrell Dorch also allegedly ordered his wife and the victim to perform sex acts on each other. “When he gets this way you just got to do it,” Nagisa Dorch allegedly told the victim, Spickler said.
The victim protested being raped by saying she was afraid of getting pregnant, and Nagisa Dorch told her Darrell Dorch had cancer and could not make babies, Spickler related. Spickler testified that Darrell Dorch allegedly failed at sodomizing the victim, and he and his wife laughed about it.
Police said the 26-year-old managed to escape at 7:30 p.m. when Nagisa Dorch’s son knocked on the hotel room door, and Dorch aided her while her husband stepped out on the balcony.
The victim was on a vacation that was supposed to be her honeymoon. Although she and her fiance had broken up before the trip, they came anyway and stayed in separate rooms.
Freedman asked the detective whether he knew the victim’s ex-fiance was the jealous type, and whether he was questioned.
He also questioned the discrepancy in the number of times she was struck, telling Kurita 50 times.
Deputy Prosecutor Murphy responded by asking, “What’s in it for her?”
She questioned why the victim would make up the story if the sexual encounter were consensual, was calling her ex-fiance and police, and fearful of identifying the suspects.
Freedman and Nagisa Dorch’s lawyer declined to offer evidence on their clients’ behalf.
Freedman initially objected to presence of the media, arguing the story with “salacious details” had gone international. He said he did not want photos of his client wearing a blue paper jumpsuit to be in the news. He said the story hurts his client and his family, including their 13-year-old son, who knocked on their hotel room door.
The judge denied the request after hearing objections from an attorney on behalf of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
She also ordered the couple not to contact the victim.