2015/10/07

When a police officer says that the word of a civilian holds no credibility against a member of law enforcement, it is warning enough for a victim.

This is certainly what scared former Honolulu police officer Danson Cappo’s former girlfriend Christine Cabuse.

For more than a year she suffered in silence; the 23-year-old felt trapped in her abusive relationship, unable to report the horror she endured to the authorities.

He became abusive just after they got together, but her real nightmare began after he graduated from the academy.

Cabuse says on one occasion in September 2013 he held his service weapon to her head.

“He pointed it at me and then back to himself and it wasn’t the first time he had pulled it on himself, but for him to pull it on me I really thought I would never see anyone again,” she reveals.

The ex-cop also beat her, tried to push her out of his car and slashed her tires. However, the depth of his abusive nature truly became evident when he tried to smother the woman with a pillow while she was lying down.

It was when he threatened to crash Cabuse’s car that she managed to have a temporary restraining order issued against him in March 2014.

Days later she was at a club dancing with another man when Cappo spotted the pair. He choked the man to the point of unconsciousness on the dance floor.

He then took his ex-girlfriend into his car and threw out her cell phone. Following this he beat her up so severely she had to go to the hospital – this is when she decided it had to stop.

She reported the incident to the police and Cappo was arrested for domestic violence.

At the time the grand jury indicted him for second-degree theft, third degree assault, misdemeanour abuse of the family or household member, and fourth degree criminal property damage.

He pleaded not guilty in January this year and was released after posting his $ 20,000 bail.

Last week Cappo and his former girlfriend appeared in court again.

Cabuse was clearly distraught.

“I remember the night in March like it just happened. I remember begging the responding police officer to believe me and thinking they wouldn’t because, as Danson put it, he was an officer and his father was an officer and no one would believe me because I have no power like he did,” she told the court.

Cappo apologized for his abuse.

“This incident has cost me my career and everything I’ve worked toward for my life,” he said.

In what some may argue was a lenient course of action, the judge put him on a four-year probation period with the opportunity to have the charges removed completely if he fulfills the conditions. He is not allowed to contact the victim.

Domestic Violence Action Center CEO Nanci Kreidman is shocked at the ruling.

“When we start pleading down crimes and eliminating incarceration and reducing sentences and providing options for wiping records clean, that conveys, in our opinion, the wrong message,” she said.

Kreidman also raises another crucial point; wiping out the crime from a person’s history could pose problems in the future. These records are important when sentencing for other decisions, such as custody matters.

This comes at a time when at least 26 officers of the Honolulu Police Department have been either suspended or terminated for domestic violence issues.

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