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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Retrial begins for Nanakuli man charged in sexual assault of minor


By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer

The retrial of a 58-year-old Nanakuli man charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old employee began today in Circuit Court.

On trial is Henry Moisa, operator of a portable toilet rental company.

Moisa allegedly performed oral sex on the victim on the first day he hired the youth in 2007 was and measuring him for a company uniform, deputy prosecutor Adrian Dhakhwa told jurors in his opening statement.

The assaults allegedly occurred at Moisa's house, Bellows Field Beach Park and Mokuleia and ended in 2008, according to the prosecutor.

"At first it was not consensual," Dhakwha said. Moisa paid the victim $5 every time the boy agreed to a sex act with Moisa, said Dhakwha.

That was far more than the $1.25 the boy was paid each time he cleaned a portable toilet, the prosecutor said.

"Eventually it evolves into a consensual relationship: he's getting something, the defendant's getting something," Dhakwha said.

Defense attorney Daphne Barbee said in her opening statement that the youth is lying about the sex assaults.

The alleged victim told police when he was interviewed in the case that "sometimes it's better to tell a lie," Barbee said.

Other part-time employees of Moisa's business, including a relative of the victim, will testify that they never saw Moisa behave inappropriately toward the victim or other employees, Barbee said.

Police began an investigation after the alleged victim told a friend, who told a relative, who told the victim's mother, who filed a police report, Dhakwha told the jury.

The youth "wants the defendant to know that he wasn't the one who snitched," the prosecutor said.

When the case was first tried last year, it ended in a mistrial.

Circuit Judge Glenn Kim is presiding over the case.