The wife of accused killer Glenn Keohokapu Jr. was a reluctant prosecution witness yesterday, testifying that she never saw a knife in her husband's hand the night he allegedly stabbed 19-year-old Steven Wilcox to death outside a Kane'ohe bar.

Kauilani Keohokapu denied telling an aunt several days after the killing that she had seen a knife in her husband's hand and that she had refused to let him into their car until he dropped the weapon.

Wilcox died of a stab wound to the heart shortly after midnight June 8, 2008, outside Club Komomai on Kamehameha Highway.

Kauilani Keohokapu was not asked about her husband's previous violent behavior toward her.

That information, described in other court cases, is being kept from the jury as overly prejudicial to the rights of the defendant.

In response to questions from Deputy Prosecutor Kristine Yoo, Kauilani Keohokapu said Wilcox was the aggressor that night.

"Steven kept coming after my husband and my husband kept backing up," she said.

"Did you see Steven get killed?" Yoo asked.

"No," said the witness.

"Were you scared of your husband?"

"No."

Later Yoo asked if she told her auntie "that you didn't open the door because you were scared for your life."

"I didn't," Keohokapu said.

According to previous testimony and statements by the attorneys, Glenn Keohokapu and Wilcox got into an altercation the parking lot of the bar. Yoo said Wilcox scuffled with Keohokapu after seeing him push his wife. Defense lawyer Benjamin Ignacio said Keohokapu didn't want to fight and acted in self-defense.