A 25-year-old woman told officers her refusal to give a bottle of tequila to an acquaintance she described as highly intoxicated led to the man stabbing her early Tuesday morning, according to court documents filed by police.
Courtney Joseph told officers she was hanging out with friends, including two teenage girls, at a covered storage area on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Apostles on Kapiolani Street in Hilo, documents state.
About 20 minutes after their arrival, they were approached by a man later identified as 22-year-old Tchok Atario, who Joseph said associates with her brothers, according to documents.
According to police, Joseph said Atario appeared highly intoxicated, became argumentative and tried to take Joseph’s bottle of tequila, which she refused to give up.
Joseph told officers Atario pulled a long knife with a black handle from a rear pants pocket and said, “What, what, get your brothers!” The woman told officers she was fearful of being stabbed and yelled at Atario to go home, documents state.
Atario left but returned several hours later, still argumentative and confrontational, and still trying to drink Joseph’s liquor, according to police. Joseph told police Atario slapped her back hard enough to hurt, so she slapped him back, documents state, and Atario then stabbed her in the left elbow with a pair of scissors.
Joseph managed to get away long enough to try to collect her belongings and leave the area, but she heard Atario yell and saw him run at her with the long knife and stab her on top of her head, documents state. Atario tried to stab her again, but she caught the blade of the knife in her left hand, causing a laceration to the inside of her fingers, according to documents.
The woman and the two teenage girls managed to tackle Atario, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious, documents state.
Joseph left the church grounds and called police from a nearby apartment complex before being taken to Hilo Medical Center for treatment, according to police.
A Hilo Medical Center doctor told police the knife tip broke off in Joseph’s skull, requiring her to be medevaced to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu for surgery, according to documents. The doctor also told police Joseph suffered a fractured left elbow and left-hand laceration, and that there was a risk of death from her injuries.
The woman remained in stable condition at Queen’s, police said Thursday.
Officers searched the area and recovered both the knife and the scissors, and were provided short cellphone video clips of the incident by one of the teens, documents state. Both of the teens identified Atario as the assailant and one of the witnesses spotted him on foot, still in the area, which led to his arrest, according to documents.
Atario was charged with with attempted second-degree murder, second-degree assault and first-degree terroristic threatening. He made his initial court appearance Thursday, accompanied by a Chuukese language interpreter.
At the court hearing, Hilo District Judge Kanani Laubach denied a motion by Deputy Public Defender Evans Smith to free Atario on court-supervised release or to reduce his bail from $270,000 to $100,000.
Laubach ordered Atario to return to court for a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. Monday.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
