ANGEL “AJ” Ichihara, 28, appeared before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho on Friday for a bail hearing.
Ichihara was charged with assault and battery, disturbing the peace, strangulation, and vandalism.
The judge imposed a $20,000 cash bail on the defendant who was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections after the hearing.
The judge ordered him to return to court on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. for a preliminary hearing, and on March 7 at 9 a.m. for an arraignment.
At the bail hearing, Ichihara was represented by Assistant Public Defender Karie Comstock, while Assistant Attorney General Carmen Borja appeared for the government.
According to the defendant’s girlfriend, he got mad when she called the father of her son using Ichihara’s cell phone.
She said Ichihara “threw a huge fit, pushed her with one hand on her left shoulder causing her to fall onto the bed and landing on her right hip.”
She told police that “AJ then put his knee and all his weight on her right hip, holding her down.”
She said “AJ had smashed the screen of her black Samsung…cell phone a few days ago because he didn’t want her contacting any friends or family.”
She described the first two weeks of her relationship with Ichihara as fine, but once “AJ didn’t get what he asked for she noticed that he started to get violent.”
“There was a time when AJ was upset because she bought her kids pampers, but couldn’t buy AJ chew (betelnut) and as he was driving with her and her son in the vehicle, he grew upset and immediately pulled up the handbrake, stopping the vehicle in the middle of the road,” the victim said.
“It depends on where we at…if we’re inside the house he would…sit on me and hold me down.”
The victim told police that he had hurt her multiple times.
A few days before the most recent incident, she was planning her son’s birthday with the son’s father. “AJ got upset and told her she shouldn’t have any reason to be contacting him then punched her left upper arm four times,” she told police.
She said while she was laying on the bed, “AJ sat on top of her with both his arms on her neck and repeatedly tried to strangle her.”
She added that “AJ held on her neck for about 30 seconds, and when she tried to get up, AJ let one hand go from her neck and pulled her hair then return to strangling her.”
She said she repeatedly slapped his wrist to remove his chokehold on her but “he made it harder.”
When he finally let her go and she was able to get up, “AJ hit her on the cheek with the back of his left forearm.”
