A Kona school principal, the state Department of Education and Board of Education are being sued for failing to protect a female student from repeated sex assault on a public school campus.
The civil action, filed March 30 in 3rd Circuit Court and petitioned April 29 to U.S. District Court in Honolulu, alleges that between November 2018 and Feb. 26, 2019, a male student at Konawaena High School repeatedly sexually assaulted, sexually abused, harassed and/or bullied a female minor who attended Konawaena Middle School on the high school premises.
The defendants — the state Department of Education, Board of Education, Konawaena High School Principal Shawn Suzuki and other not-yet-named parties — were made aware of at least one temporary restraining order having been filed against the male student prior to November 2018 that alleged the same misconduct as the victim in the March 30 lawsuit.
“Defendants, and each of them, had received reports of the male student sexually assaulting, molesting, harassing, threatening and/or stalking other female students, and they failed to take any action to protect (X.X.) as well as other female students,” the lawsuit reads.
It is the policy of West Hawaii Today to not identify victims of sex assault. The newspaper will not publish the victim’s initials nor the name of the plaintiff on the lawsuit to protect the identity of the minor. The victim will be instead identified as “X.X.”
Though the male is not named in the lawsuit, the minor’s guardian confirmed to West Hawaii Today on Wednesday that he is in fact Justin Mariano, who has been indicted for sexual assault in three separate criminal cases, including one involving the victim in the civil suit. He is currently confined to the Hawaii State Hospital pending status review set for next month.
The civil lawsuit further alleges the defendants did nothing to monitor or supervise the male student despite having been informed by students and/or parents as far back as 2015.
“On information and belief, students and/or parents made complaints directly to Defendant Suzuki about the male student’s ongoing wrongful conduct, yet Defendant Suzuki failed to take any action to protect female students from being assaulted, sexually assaulted, molested, harassed and/or threatened by the male student,” the lawsuit reads.
As a result the minor victim “was assaulted on repeated occasions in the ‘E’ building of KHS,” reads the lawsuit.
“He would pick on young girls that had some kind of mental or physical defect,” said Attorney Michael J. Green, who filed the suit. “He was running around the school, as our complaint says, having sex with these young kids and apparently the principal or vice principal knew about it and their response was, ‘well, you know, they’re just kids, they’re just students.’”
Green said he believes there are more victims.
“I don’t believe for a second these are the only two victims. I can tell you I have a third victim where the statute of limitations ran out and I absolutely believe 100% that the school knew that he was a danger to young girls at the school,” he said. “I have no doubt about that.”
The civil complaint outlines seven counts, or causes of action, including violations of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides equal protection under the U.S. Constitution, as well as allegations of negligence by the defendants for failing to train or supervise Suzuki to respond the complaints, and negligence and gross negligence in their duty to protect the victim. The final two counts allege the defendants intentionally and/or negligently inflicted severe emotional distress.
“Defendants BOE and DOE intentionally violated Title IX by subjecting (X.X.) to discrimination based upon her sex by acting with complete indifference to the acts of assault/sexual assault perpetrated on her by a male student. Defendants BOE and DOE’s failure to act to rectify the situation which resulted in repeated trauma to and threat to the safety and well-being of a victim of sexual abuse was a breach of duty owed to (X.X.),” the court document reads.
The incidents effectively barred the victim’s access to an educational benefit or activity, according to the court documents. An amended complaint further alleges the victim, upon completing eighth grade at Konawaena Middle School, opted not to attend Konawaena High School because Suzuki did not “take effective action and respond with remedial measures to protect” the minor from further harassment from the harasser or his siblings.
Should judgment be rendered in favor of the plaintiff, special, general and punitive damages of unspecified amounts would be sought, in addition to attorneys fees and other costs. “As a result of Defendant’s wrongful conduct, (X.X.) suffered and continues to suffer pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of quality of life, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses and other costs,” court document state.
“Anyone that knew about this should not be allowed to teach children — whether it’s a principal, vice principal, (or) counselor — if they knew this was going on, had notice to investigate and they ignored it — they should never be allowed to educate children again,” Green said. … “It’s disgusting. They knew this was going on, they had notice, and they did nothing.”
The state Department of Education declined comment on the pending litigation. Suzuki did not respond to a message seeking comment as of press-time Wednesday.
A hearing on a motion to dismiss most of the counts filed by the defendants filed June 25 will be held July 31 in Honolulu. The 20-page motion seeks to have all claims dismissed with the exception of the Title IX violation against the BOE and DOE, the Fourteenth Amendment violation against Suzuki in his individual capacity and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Suzuki in his individual capacity.
