A 54-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly slashed the neck of a Haleiwa grocery store manager.
John F. Mayhew was charged Thursday with attempted second-degree murder in connection with the attack on Jerry Pedro, 52, an assistant manager at Malama Market. Mayhew is expected to appear in Honolulu District Court today. His bail has been set at $100,000.
Police said Mayhew attacked Pedro at the market Tuesday afternoon. Paramedics transported Pedro in serious condition to a hospital. He underwent surgery and has since been upgraded to stable condition.
Police arrested Mayhew shortly after the attack. He has an extensive criminal record that includes terroristic threatening, harassment, abuse of a family or household member, assault, assault of a police officer, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.
On April 6 a judge sentenced him to a year of probation after he was convicted for criminal trespassing. Police arrested Mayhew on March 27 after a resident found him inside her home in Haleiwa about a block away from Malama Market. According to court records, Mayhew gained entry to the home with a spare key he found hidden near the front door.
Resident Isabelle Yao said she arrived home shortly before noon and found Mayhew taking a shower. She said she screamed, ran outside and called police.
During a phone interview Thursday, Yao said Mayhew had attempted to break into her home five days before she discovered him inside taking a shower. Her husband confronted him and told him not to come near their residence again.
Prior to his recent criminal trespassing conviction, Mayhew was in prison from June 2011 until Dec. 10, 2016, for a second-degree assault conviction. He was released for time served, said Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman of the Department of Public Safety.
A mental health court panel diagnosed Mayhew with schizophrenia in 2011.
Yao said she recognized Mayhew as someone who wandered around Haleiwa in years past. “He has become violent over time,” she said.
She said she hadn’t seen him for the past five years or so until he resurfaced about two months ago.
Yao recalled that she was in shock when she learned Mayhew attacked Pedro. “I was extremely upset of an innocent man becoming a victim of a maniac that the state is unable to take care of,” she said.
With the recent attack and criminal trespassing, Yao said she is filing a temporary restraining order against him.