The 43-year-old man charged with second-degree murder after Wednesday’s fatal stabbing of a 32-year-old man in Kaimuki made his initial appearance at Honolulu District Court Friday.
Welden Manuel appeared before Judge Tracy Fukui via video teleconference from the courthouse cellblock after prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder in the death of Otil Oiterong.
Manuel is scheduled to appear at his preliminary hearing Tuesday. His bail is set at $1 million.
Honolulu police in court documents said officers responded to a call of a stabbing under a bridge near the intersection of Kapiolani Boulevard and Kaimuki Avenue just before noon Wednesday.
Oiterong was taken to The Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition where he died from a stab wound to his right ventricle, resulting in severe blood loss, court documents said.
Police said a witness heard two men arguing. The witness then saw Oiterong with blood all over his stomach and the suspect holding a bloody knife. The suspect was \ seen jumping over a fence and running across Kapiolani Boulevard, police said.
Responding officers spotted and chased the suspect. Once police caught up to him, an officer observed the handle of a knife in the suspect’s front waistband of his pants and ordered him to drop the knife.
The suspect complied and threw the knife on the ground.
Police arrested him on suspicion of second-degree murder.
Court documents indicated officers observed blood on Manuel’s face, hands and pants at the time of his arrest. Police also saw blood on the knife.
Manuel has an extensive criminal record of five petty misdemeanor convictions for assault, harassment and criminal trespassing.
He was also a defendant in two stabbings — one in 2017 and another in August — which both resulted in second-degree assault charges. In both cases, the complaining witness who had been stabbed could not be brought to court to testify.
In the 2017 case, a reportedly drunk Manuel stabbed a male in the chest at Pier 38 with a switchblade. A jury found him guilty of second-degree assault, but after Manuel appealed the ruling, the Hawaii Supreme Court ordered a new trial in Circuit Court.
The case was dismissed after the stabbing victim could not be located during the week of the trial.
In the other case, Manuel allegedly stabbed a homeless man with a pair of scissors. In April he was acquitted after the victim again could not be located to testify in court.
