MANOA, Hawaii (KHON2) — A Manoa woman hopes Honolulu prosecutors will reopen a dangerous dog case that ended with the death of her beloved pup in August, 2024.
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The case was initially dismissed without prejudice.
KHON2 shared the story of Emogene Yoshimura in September, just a month after her 13-year-old Bichon, Kiki, was attacked and killed by a neighbor’s large dog near Manoa Triangle Park. Yoshimura said bedtime has not been the same ever since.
“She’d sleep right here on the right side of my head,” Yoshimura said, “and that spot is so empty. We did that for 13 years, and she never moved from that spot all night.”
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The other owner was issued a citation from Honolulu police and Yoshimura forwarded her police report to the Humane Society to follow up before the case was dismissed in Circuit Court.
“And they called me and they said, ‘What are we going to do with this?’ So I said, The Prosecutor’s Office told me to file it with you.’ It’s as though the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. And the prosecutor assures me that they will reopen the case, but I don’t know how that’s going to happen,” Yoshimura said.
Defense attorney Megan Kau — a former deputy prosecutor — said it us unfortunate but not unheard of that this case was dismissed. She said courts can require a dangerous dog to be euthanized, the Hawaiian Humane Society did not comment on their criteria for putting dangerous dogs down.
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“But what I’m guessing and I guess I’m hoping is that there’s just been a lack of communication,” Kau said, “and so the deputy prosecuting attorney doesn’t have all of the records because we did often do that with the dog bit cases, we would go to the initial arraignment and the case would be dismissed because we don’t have the Humane Society records and so we would get them and then we would issue a penal summons.”
The case can be reopened because it was initially dismissed without prejudice but Prosecutors said they can not comment on specifics of this case.
It is not clear why the dog that killed Kiki was not immediately brought to the Humane Society.
“This pit bull that attacked and killed my dog was not a trained dog,” Yoshimura said. “It’s a crime to have your beloved pet — who was my whole family — destroyed within seconds.”
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Yoshimura said she will file a civil lawsuit to hold the owner of the large dog responsible if the criminal case is not reopened.