Mother charged in ‘torture' death of adopted daughter, 11, in Laie
A 39-year-old Kahuku woman was arrested and charged with manslaughter today for allegedly torturing and neglecting her 11-year-old adopted daughter who died in December 2023.
The victim, Azaeliyah Pili-Ah You, had 'multiple injuries from child abuse ' and the manner of her death was a homicide, Lt. Deena Thoemmes, head of the Honolulu Police Department's Strategic Enforcement and Homicide Detail, said at a news conference.
Pili-Ah You had extensive bruising, 'deep enough to penetrate skin ' and reaching her diaphragm, Thoemmes said.
She had multiple abrasions to her face, head, neck, chest back, arms, hands, and legs. The girl had wounds consistent with being bitten, internal injuries to her neck 'likely from strangulation, ' two broken ribs a scalp hemorrhage, and her left lung was dark which indicated pneumonia, Thoemmes said. Pili-Ah You's body tested positive for COVID, pneumonia and the flu, according to HPD.
Sina Pili was indicted by an Oahu grand jury today and charged with manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a minor, and persistent non-support, according to state court documents.
Pili-Ah You was adopted by Pili and her husband two months before she died. Thoemmes said Pili-Ah You's adoptive father has not been arrested but remains under investigation.
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'Child torture is insidious, it is gradual, calculated and systematic and intended to break its victims completely, ' said Thoemmes, who urged state lawmakers to pass pending legislation, Senate Bill 281, allowing law enforcement more power to intervene, investigate and arrest people who abuse children.
On the day she died, Pili 'slapped and punched ' Pili-Ah You multiple times over a period of 30 minutes, police said. On Dec. 22, 2023, patrol officers responded to a 911 call of an unresponsive 11-year-old girl at a home in Laie.
Officers saw Pili-Ah You's father giving the girl 'life-saving care ' in the hallway of the home before Honolulu firefighters took her into the living room and tried to revive her, according to HPD. She was taken to the Kahuku Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
Her death was initially classified as an unattended death. Homicide detectives, noticing the bruising, brought in HPD's child abuse detail.
Sina Pili was arrested at about 1 :45 p.m. in Kahuku and will remain in police custody before she is taken to Honolulu Circuit Court for arraignment on Thursday.
Pili 'recklessly ' caused her adopted daughter's death on Dec. 22, 2023, according to the indictment. Manslaughter is a Class 'A ' felony punishable by 20 years in prison without the possibility of suspension of sentence or probation.
Four additional children in Pili and her husband's care, ages 12, 9, 8, 7, have been placed in protective custody by state Child Welfare Services.
This was the second time this week that charges were filed in a child's death on Oahu. On Feb. 27, police arrested two women—Janae Perez, 25, and her girlfriend, Ashleigh Utley, 33—in the June starvation death of 3-year-old girl Sarai Perez-Rivera in Kapolei.
Perez, who is the girl's mother, and Utley were indicted Tuesday for suspicion of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, hindering prosecution and two counts of kidnapping.
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