A 41-year-old Volcano man has been arrested and charged for a third time for the brutal beating of an elderly woman outside a Hilo bar 3 1/2 years ago.
According to a police log, Zachary Babosh was arrested Monday morning and charged with first-degree assault for allegedly attacking Paulette Stabile, then 75, on April 10, 2021, outside Hale Inu Sports Bar in the Waiakea Villas.
Babosh was released from custody early Monday afternoon after posting $100,000 bail.
A Hilo grand jury on Sept. 25 returned a single-count indictment against Babosh.
According to court documents filed by police shortly after the incident, Stabile, who was hospitalized after the attack, suffered multiple facial fractures, three missing front teeth, heavy bruising and swelling to both eyes and the bridge of the nose, mouth and left side of her face. She also sustained 2-inch lacerations under her left eye and above her upper lip.
Stabile also sustained a concussion from the beating.
Stabile allegedly told police that between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. on the morning of the attack, she helped the bartender, Amy Arruda — identified in 2021 documents as Babosh’s girlfriend — clean up some bottles and cans. Stabile reportedly told police she was walking to her car after finishing, felt someone grab the right side of her neck and shoulder, and pull her back. She turned around and saw it was Babosh, but couldn’t remember anything after that.
Arruda reportedly told officers Stabile was arguing with Babosh, who tried to walk away. Arruda said that Stabile hit Babosh first, and then Babosh hit Stabile, who fell to the ground.
Arruda said she tried to stop Babosh from hitting Stabile but was herself thrown to the ground.
Hale Inu’s surveillance video system wasn’t working, according to documents, but police obtained video from a nearby business that showed a “male party, believed to be Babosh,” grabbing a “female party, believed to be Stabile,” by the neck, slam her to the ground, then repeatedly strike her.
The video also showed “another female, believed to be Arruda,” trying to stop the assailant but was forcefully shoved to the ground twice.
First-degree assault is a Class B felony offense that carries a maximum 10-year prison term.
Prosecutors, however, contend that if Babosh is convicted of first-degree assault or second-degree assault — a Class C felony which, as a lesser-included offense, is an option open to a jury — he is subject to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment without parole, because he was on probation for a conviction for first-degree terroristic threatening at the time the assault on Stabile allegedly occurred.
As a felony probationer, Babosh, who was 37 when the assault occurred, also was legally prohibited from being a patron at a bar, which is what’s alleged in this case.
The Sept. 25 indictment also states that Babosh is subject to an extended term of imprisonment “for the protection of the public” and because Babosh is “an offender against the elderly” — which in legal terms, is 60 years of age or older.
Babosh originally was indicted and charged on May 12, 2021, with first-degree assault for the alleged attack on Stabile.
The charge was dismissed without prejudice, however, on May 20, 2022, after a Hilo grand jury returned an indictment for attempted second-degree murder for the assault.
The second indictment was dismissed without prejudice on Aug. 28, after Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota found a grand juror was given a legally flawed definition of attempted murder after asking the independent grand jury counsel the difference between attempted murder and assault.
The judge gave prosecutors 60 days to refile an indictment against Babosh and they did so, charging him with first-degree assault instead of refiling the second-degree attempted murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole upon conviction.
According to a clerk in Kubota’s courtroom, Babosh has a hearing on the new indictment on Thursday.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.