Saturday, December 20, 2008

Sex offender admits guilt in rape of 3 boys

A 25-year-old convicted sex offender pleaded guilty in Circuit Court yesterday to raping three boys under the age of 14.

His lawyer said he also confessed to taking lewd photos of the boys.

Kaulana Hirakawa worked as a sales clerk at the Disney Store at Ala Moana Center before he was arrested early last year on sexual assault charges.

Hirakawa is a 2001 graduate of Moanalua High School. He lived with his parents in a Salt Lake apartment with his parents, where, police said, one of the sexual assaults took place.

Court documents charge he sexually assaulted three boys ages 6, 9 and 13. The boys were friends of his family, whom he babysat.

Police said Hirakawa performed oral sex on two of the boys and took photos of their genitals.

His lawyer, Jeffrey Hawk, said Hirakawa admitted to all the allegations."

One thing he would like to convey to everybody is that he's extremely remorseful about what he's done, and he's going to take full responsibility for everything he's done," Hawk said.

Hirakawa has been in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center since January 2007 unable to post $150,000 bail in one of the cases.

As part of his guilty plea, Hirakawa is required to submit blood samples and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.