A 77-year-old Pahoa man accused of bludgeoning his 76-year-old wife with a shotgun butt Friday night remains in Hawaii Community Correctional Center, unable to post $1.65 million bail.
Lowell Thomas Pofahl is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault on a person 60 or older, use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, and domestic abuse for allegedly beating Marianne Hopkins with multiple weapons.
Hopkins sustained life-threatening injuries, police said, but has shown improvement and is still hospitalized but stable at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.
Pofahl, who has no prior felony record, made his initial court appearance Monday. Deputy Public Defender Megan Fellows asked Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk to reduce Pofahl’s bail to $1 million, which she said “is still far more than he can afford.”
Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Son requested the judge to maintain Pofahl’s bail “due to the underlying facts” of the case.
Hawk maintained Pofahl’s bail and ordered him to return to court at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Pofaul didn’t speak during the proceeding.
According to police, Pofahl called dispatch shortly before 10:30 p.m. Friday to inform them he had attempted to kill his wife.
Officers arriving at the Nanawale Estates home found Hopkins lying naked and supine in a pool of her own blood within a home office. Pofahl was on the scene and was taken into custody without incident, while officers and Hawaii Fire Department personnel rendered first aid to the victim.
Hopkins was still conscious and speaking when police arrived shortly before 10:30 p.m., but was unable to answer basic questions and was only able to provide her first name to officers, according to court documents filed by police.
After the woman was taken to the Hilo Benioff Medical Center — and later Queen’s— she was found to have sustained a fractured skull, brain bleed, concussion, fractured ribs, a partial thumb amputation and numerous puncture wounds and lacerations about the body.
According to documents, officers collected an unloaded black Mossberg Maverick Arms Model 88 12-gauge shotgun with a cracked stock and what appeared to be hair and dried, coagulated blood on the butt end.
A search of Pofahl also turned up a Donald Trump folding knife in a jeans pocket with what appeared to be blood residue, documents state.
While being transported to the Pahoa Police Station for processing, Pofahl allegedly told officers, without being prompted, “Let me tell you one thing, there’s a hammer there in a box in the office. I used that, also.”
On Saturday, East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division officers executed a search warrant at the residence on the 14-500 block of Hapuu Road, and found a a claw hammer with red-and-black handle and what appeared to be blood residue.
Detectives attempted to interview Pofahl on Sunday, but after being read his rights, Pofahl requested a lawyer, according to the documents.
The most serious charge, attempted second-degree murder, carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole upon conviction.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
