A 33-year-old Waimea man was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for a 2012 traffic collision in Hamakua that killed two women and injured seven other people.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura imposed the sentence on Alfred Berdon III, who pleaded no contest to two counts each of first-degree negligent homicide, first-degree negligent injury and second-degree negligent injury, and a single count of first-degree criminal trespassing.
The trespassing count is a reduced charge for the burglary of a Waimea home that occurred late last year while Berdon was out on bail, according to Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Hashizaki.
The judge also ordered Berdon to make restitution of $7,345 to Siduro Cadang to pay for the funeral of his wife, 54-year-old Patrocinia Cadang, who was killed in the Sept. 10, 2012, collision on Hawaii Belt Road that also killed 61-year-old Josefina Visaya.
The two were among seven in a van of Puna Certified Nursery workers returning home from a job in Waikoloa. Police say Berdon collided with the Hilo-bound van while attempting to pass in his pickup near Kalopa. The van ran off the road and plunged down a 15-foot embankment.
In addition to the two women killed, three other women were seriously injured in the crash, and four others sustained less serious injuries, police said.
In court Monday, Berdon’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Sherilyn Tavares, said Berdon was “taking responsibility for his actions on Sept. 10, 2012,” and accepted the plea deal against her advice. She said Berdon was taking his 7-year-old son to basketball practice in Paauilo after finishing work on a fishing boat “and, yes, he had consumed alcohol while he was on that boat.”
Tavares said police reports indicate Berdon’s blood-alcohol level tested at 0.06, below the 0.08 threshold for legal intoxication, and described the collision as “an accident.”
“He had no intention of causing an accident,” Tavares said. “He had no intention of risking his life, his son’s life or anyone else who was on the road that day. He had no intention of putting anyone in danger.”
Tavares said her study of police reports suggested Berdon might not be solely to blame for the fatal crash.
“Unfortunately, when he made that decision to pass the van that was traveling back with workers from Kona to Hilo, he did not realize that although there was more than enough space to pass that van, as he was passing the van, the van would speed up and not permit him to enter back into his lane of travel,” Tavares said. “At the last minute, Mr. Berdon made a decision to avoid an oncoming car, and the back bumper of his vehicle clipped the front bumper of the van that was traveling with the individuals that were injured that day.”
An emotional Berdon read from a written statement apologizing to the families of the victims, who weren’t present, and his own family, some of whom were in the courtroom gallery.
“It was the biggest mistake of my life,” Berdon said, tearfully. “If I could take it back, I would, in a heartbeat. But I can’t. I can never truly fix the results of what happened that day. I am truly sorry.”
In addition to the money Berdon was ordered to pay Cadang’s family, Government Employees Insurance Co. won a $100,000 default judgment against Berdon on July 29. According to GEICO’s civil suit, the insurer paid $100,000 to Visaya’s estate.
The Visaya family suffered a second traffic tragedy a little more than a year later, when Josefina Visaya’s 66-year-old husband, Cenon Visaya, was struck and killed by a pickup Sept. 27, 2013, while riding a bicycle in Keaau. The driver of the pickup truck, 29-year-old Siaiku “Lucky” Aholelei of Mountain View, was sentenced Oct. 13, 2014, to 10 years for negligent homicide.
Two eyewitnesses testified in court they saw Aholelei’s Mountain View-bound truck cross the median on Volcano Highway (Highway 11) near Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii, then cross two lanes of oncoming traffic and hit Visaya, who was riding on the shoulder in the Hilo direction.
One of the witnesses testified it appeared Aholelei was “playing tag” with a woman driving another pickup truck whom the witness said “proceeded on her merry way.”
The Tribune-Herald was unable to reach relatives of the crash victims Monday. Fred Visaya, son of Cenon and Josefina Visaya, told the paper July 30, 2014, it was “still hard to move on.” His wife, Rowena Visaya, described the family’s wait for justice at that time as “too long.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
