A 37-year-old Hilo man who was released from jail April 15 because of the COVID-19 pandemic is back behind bars after a federal DNA database identified him as the suspect of an alleged sexual assault that occurred early last year.
Durrell Lee Alfonso Davis is charged with second-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony punishable by a 10-year-prison term upon conviction, and third-degree theft, a misdemeanor, for the Jan. 21, 2019, incident.
According to court documents filed by police, a 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, documents state.
According to documents, 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 do so, 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, 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 on to 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 documents.
She also told police her purse was still in the car as the alleged assailant drove off, documents state.
Davis, who was released last week from Hawaii Community Correctional Center for a probation violation on a burglary conviction, was apprehended on the new charges Friday. A warrant for Davis’ arrest was issued after police and prosecutors received results from the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System database identifying him as the person whose semen was found in a condom at the site of the alleged sex assault.
At Davis’ initial court appearance Monday, Hilo District Judge Kanani Laubach confirmed his bail at $25,000 and ordered him to return at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Davis remains in custody at HCCC.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
