Prosecutor details East Honolulu kidnap victim’s hourslong ordeal

The man accused of carjacking a 22-year-old woman at knifepoint earlier this month held his victim against her will for more than four hours, during which time he bound, gagged and blindfolded her and took her to a beach where he sexually assaulted and tried to drown her, Deputy Prosecutor Rochelle Vidinha told a state judge Wednesday after the man was indicted on multiple felony charges.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment charging Austin Quale Joseph with kidnapping, robbery, four counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted sexual assault. The indictment also charges Joseph, 23, with operating the woman’s car and possessing her bank card without her permission, identity theft and theft.

Vidinha told Circuit Judge Shirley Kawamura that Joseph forced the woman to reveal the passwords for her bank card, cellphone and laptop computer and used the bank card within a half-hour of releasing her.

Honolulu police said surveillance video and still photos at the Windward Mall Aloha Island Mart show Joseph withdrawing $100 from the woman’s account.

Kawamura confirmed bail for Joseph at $1 million. Joseph has been in custody since his arrest April 11 in his car in a Windward Mall parking lot.

Vidinha told Kawamura that after Joseph sexually assaulted his victim at a beach, he carried her to the ocean and forced her head down into the water until the woman was able to fight her way free and beg for her life.

“The defendant at that point pulls her back out of the water, laid her on the grass, face down, and told her, ‘I have an ax. And if you don’t answer these questions correctly I will chop your head off.”

She said Joseph’s questions were actually warnings to not report what happened.

Vidinha said Joseph forced his way into the woman’s car April 3, after the woman drove over a large rock and she stopped to check on her vehicle. The woman told police it happened about 7:40 p.m. on Kalanianaole Highway in East Honolulu and her assailant left her in her car hours later in the Windward Mall area.

Joseph has no prior criminal record. Police arrested him on March 28 at a Kaneohe address for unauthorized possession of confidential information involving a 37-year-old woman’s credit card, but released him that same day pending further investigation.

Vidinha said Joseph is a transient who lives in his car.