By LEILA FUJIMORI Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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A 54-year-old Hilo man who abducted a 15-year-old Kailua-Kona girl from a West Hawaii beach and sexually assaulted her in 2022 was sentenced this morning to 30 years in prison.

Duncan Mahi negotiated a plea deal and pleaded no contest Dec. 31 to first- and second-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault.

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Kona Circuit Court Chief Judge Wendy DeWeese sentenced Mahi to consecutive sentencing for the two kidnapping charges for a total of 30 years and ordered a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years.

She also sentenced him to 20 years for the sexual assault to run concurrently with the kidnapping sentence.

The girl told police she was with her boyfriend at Anaehoomalu Beach on Sept. 16, 2022, when she was kidnapped at knifepoint by Mahi. He forced her to smoke meth, made her perform sexual acts, and took her to his Hilo property.

She managed to escape while at Cafe Pesto in Hilo when a host recognized her from an Amber alert.

This was Hawaii County’s first-ever Amber alert.

The state, in accordance with the plea agreement, dropped the other charges of first- and third-degree sexual assault, methamphetamine trafficking, two counts of first-degree robbery and first-degree terroristic threatening.