A 40-year-old Hilo man has been indicted in a case in which a federal DNA database identified him as the suspect in an alleged 2019 sexual assault.
The two-count indictment returned Aug. 30 by a Hilo grand jury charges Durrell Lee Alfonso Davis with second-degree sexual assault and first-degree robbery for the Jan. 21, 2019, incident.
Davis previously was charged in 2020 in the same case, but what is now charged as robbery was originally charged as misdemeanor theft. That case was dismissed in December last year after prosecutors were unable to contact the complaining witness, according to court records.
The dismissal, granted by Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto, was without prejudice — allowing prosecutors to refile charges.
According to court documents filed by police, a then-32-year-old woman told officers that she was walking from the Hilo Farmers Market to the Hilo Interim Home between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that day when she accepted a ride from a man driving a dark four-door sedan who identified himself as “Ralph Green.”
The woman said she later left the interim home on foot heading toward Kai Store at the corner of Kilauea Avenue and Puainako Street when the same man offered her a ride and she accepted, the documents state.
The suspect drove to the dead end of Auwae Road in Panaewa and allegedly started to grab the victim’s breasts. The woman said she told the suspect to stop multiple times, but he didn’t, and she feared he would hurt her if she refused to have sex with him.
The victim told police he then pulled down her pants and she requested he wear a condom, which she supplied, the documents state.
The woman said she tried to get back in the passenger side of the vehicle after the alleged assault, but the man drove away as she held onto the window frame and the door, dragging her on the pavement and causing cuts and scrapes to her left hip, left shin and the top of her left foot, according to the documents.
She also allegedly told police her purse was still in the car as the alleged assailant drove off.
The Tribune-Herald’s policy is to not identify victims in sexual assault cases unless they decide to go public.
First-degree robbery is a Class A felony punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment. Second-degree sexual assault is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, upon conviction.
A bench warrant issued with the indictment set Davis’ bail at $75,000.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
