A Hawaii woman who allegedly tried to kill her ex-boyfriend and his new partner has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Irene Guzman, 31, stands accused of one count of attempted murder in the first degree and two counts of attempted murder in the second degree over a double-stabbing incident earlier this month.
The violence unfolded during the mid-morning hours on a Saturday in the former sugar plantation and current census-designated place of Waipahu, which is part of the Honolulu metropolitan area.
According to police, Guzman entered a home on Kahualei Place just before 7:30 a.m. on July 9, 2022 and attacked the new couple while they were sleeping. The man was allegedly stabbed in both his head and arm. The other woman was allegedly stabbed multiple times as she tried to fend off her jealous assailant.
Law enforcement believe the defendant first discovered the two lovers sleeping in her ex-boyfriend’s bed and only then went into the kitchen to get a knife (or two) before eventually trying to stab them, according to court documents obtained by Honolulu-based CBS affiliate KGMB, NBC affiliate KHN, and Telemundo affiliate KFVE – which collectively operate under the banner of Hawaii News Now.
Responding officers reportedly said they found two “large knives” at the crime scene that looked to be covered in blood.
The 33-year-old-man and the 25-year-old woman were taken to a nearby hospital by EMS personnel, police reportedly said. Both were admitted in serious condition and both are expected to fully recover.
Court documents obtained by Honolulu-based Fox/CW affiliate KHON outline some of the alleged details in the police’s own words.
Guzman first “began attacking the male victim with a kitchen knife, causing him to sustain lacerations to his head and left arm,” one such document alleges.
The order of events, however, is presently unclear. At some point, the female victim woke up to hearing the defendant and the man arguing, police say. When she tried to break up what was by then allegedly a fight, Guzman allegedly “stabbed [the new girlfriend] multiple times causing her to sustain numerous lacerations to her body.”
The man told police he had been in “an intimate relationship with Guzman for two years and do not have any children in common.”
A witness identified as a neighbor of Guzman’s ex- reportedly heard the argument and later saw “a female standing on the porch looking up the street holding a knife while yelling,” police said.
The defendant allegedly fled the scene in a gray Honda Odyssey. She was arrested pursuant to a traffic stop by police in Pearl City. She was formally charged on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.
According to Hawaii News Now, the couple’s relationship had ended just three days before the stabbing. There is no record of violence between her and her ex-boyfriend, however, she previously took out domestic violence restraining orders against two other men in 2016 and 2018, the TV station reported.
Guzman does not have a prior criminal record.
The defendant is currently slated to go on trial in September of this year. Her bail is set at $750,000.
[image via Honolulu Police Department]
