THE Office of the Attorney General has charged 17-year-old Kenneth Thomas Blas Kaipat with sexual assault and other offenses in adult court following the Superior Court’s order granting the criminal division’s request to transfer the case from juvenile court to adult court.
Kaipat was arrested on Friday. He was charged with three counts of sexual assault in the first degree, two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, strangulation, and burglary. His bail was set at $250,000.
At the initial hearing before Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho on Monday, Kaipat appeared in the custody of the Department of Corrections and was represented by attorney Brien Sers Nicholas who argued for a bail reduction and modification.
Assistant Attorney General Samantha Vickery, who represented the government, asked the judge to deny the request. She said the purpose of the hearing was “to be informed of the charges, not hear arguments on modifying the bail.”
Moreover, she said, the “defendant’s motion makes unwarranted allegations and personal attack” against her.
Vickery asked the court to allow sufficient time for the AG’s office to respond to the “serious allegations.”
But Judge Camacho denied the government’s request and allowed the bail modification hearing to proceed Monday afternoon.
According to the affidavit of probable cause in support of the issuance of an arrest warrant against Kaipat, police officers were dispatched to a home in San Vicente on June 2, 2019. On arrival, officers observed a female individual walking from the house “her face was covered in blood that ran down to her chest, and both her eyes were heavily bruised and swollen.”
The officers noted that her voice was shaking and she could barely speak. Medics arrived and transported her to the hospital and she was identified as the defendant’s cousin.
Police talked to Kaipat who was reportedly crying and trembling with “scratch marks on the right side of his face.”
Police learned that Kaipat was dropped by his parents at his uncle’s house with another cousin and two of his brothers to wait for their confirmation and pre-confirmation classes at 2:30.
Kaipat’s brothers left the house for their pre-confirmation classes that began at 3 p.m.
Kaipat said he and his male cousin stayed back as their pre-confirmation classes would start at 3:30 pm.
Later Kaipat said his cousin left on his own. He told police that he waited by the porch of the house and decided to walk to a store, Ming Yang Market, for a drink.
Kaipat said as he was walking something hard hit him on the upper right side of his head, causing him to fall on the ground.
As he was on the ground, Kaipat said he felt somebody hold his hand and heard a male voice say, “Don’t make me see you again.”
He told police that the man was holding something black in his hand and that he could not identify the man because his face was covered. Kaipat said his vision was blurry.
Kaipat told police that the man was headed to his uncle’s house so he went to the San Vicente Church where he called police.
The victim, for her part, told police that she was taking an afternoon nap when she heard a male voice call her nickname, which only close family members knew.
She said she got up and looked around the house but did not see anyone.
After going back to sleep, she was woken up as she was being strangled from behind. She said she struggled with the person and used her hands and fingernails to try and scratch anything she could on the suspect’s body and face. She said she fell to the floor with the person and she could not breathe as she was still being choked.
She said she could not identify the perpetrator as his face was covered with clothing, but noticed the attacker’s complexion was brown.
At that point she told police that she thought she was going to die and pretended to be unconscious on the floor.
She said she heard the suspect ripped her panties and that she felt that she was being choked again when she blacked out.
She said when she woke up, she was on a bed in “short pants.”
Medical records indicated that the victim sustained a 4-centimeter laceration over her left eyebrow, a large scalp hematoma, bruising to her eyes, one missing tooth and one loose tooth, superficial laceration of her tongue and upper lip, a closed fracture of the mandible and concussion.
She also sustained multiple abrasions at the back of her head, bruising to both arms, laceration to her ear, and several bruises on the front of both legs.
A sexual assault examination was performed on the victim on the same day of the incident and evidence obtained from the examination was sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
According to a physician assistant, Kaipat suffered injuries to the right side of his face, his right triceps and back. The PA also told police that the linear lining on Kaipat were consistent with fingernail scratches. The PA said the injuries Kaipat sustained were contrary to what he stated as being struck by a hard object.
Police said the clothes that Kaipat wore appeared to have red stains so they were taken by the Department of Public Safety’s crime scene technicians.
Crime scene technicians also obtained swabs of Kaipat’s fingernails on both hands, and buccal swabs of left and right inner cheek, and saliva samples. These materials were also sent to the FBI laboratory.
On June 2, 2020, the FBI laboratory DNA results indicated a “very strong support for inclusion of Kaipat.”
Kaipat was then taken to juvenile custody pursuant to a rule 4 warrant on June 9, 2020 and bail was set at $250,000.
He was released on April 15, 2021 after five bail hearings, based on special consideration given to juveniles.
On May 13, 2021, the juvenile court issued an order waiving its juvenile jurisdiction.
The bail modification hearing for Kaipat was still ongoing as of press time Monday.
