Son of Honolulu police sergeant receives at least 15 years in prison for murder

District Judge Shanlyn Park began her sentencing for the son of a Honolulu police sergeant found guilty of murdering 18-year-old Haaheo Kolona on Round Top Drive by expressing sympathy for Kolona's mother, saying that as a mother, she could sympathize with Kolona's mother.

After desperately trying to reach her son that night but receiving no response, she learned that “her son had been murdered and her world had collapsed,” the judge said.

So it may have come as a surprise to Kolona's family when the judge denied the state's request for an extended sentence. The request would have meant 22-year-old Nainoa Damon would have been sentenced to life without parole for the March 18, 2022, murder.

Instead, she sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole and set a mandatory minimum of 15 years for the murder charge, along with an indeterminate sentence of 20 years for two Class A weapons offenses and first-degree robbery, plus 10 years for a Class B weapons offense and 5 years for first-degree terroristic threatening, with credit for the two years and five months already served.

He was also ordered to pay $3,980.73 in restitution to Kolona's mother, Carolee Kolona.

There was a heavy police presence both inside and outside the courtroom. The gallery and hallway outside were filled with family members and friends of Damon and Kolona.

After Park sentenced Damon, the victim's father, Blake Kolona, ​​​​blurted from his seat in the gallery: “Fifteen years? I'm not happy with that, I have to tell you that with all due respect, Judge.”

He was led out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies and continued: “This damn court is corrupt. Maybe because his mother is a damn sergeant at the Wahiawa police station.”

“This man killed my son and got 15 fucking years for it,” Kolona said of his only son. “Life. I'm talking to all the parents out there. Right here: Haaheo,” Kolona said, holding up a wooden urn containing his son's remains.

Assistant District Attorney Anna Jackson said she took the case to trial, the jury convicted Damon and justice prevailed. The case will now go before the Hawaii Parole Board on all six counts on which he was convicted.

“I was disappointed (with the verdict) given the serious impact this case has had on everyone involved – his friends and his family,” she said.

Damon's mother, Sergeant Jennifer Bugarin, said “no comment” when asked about the verdict and Kolona's corruption charges because she is a police officer.

In a November news article, Bugarin said she was a single mother of a 2-year-old son when she joined HPD. She worked the night shift so she could be with her son in the mornings and relied on her mother to watch him.

Bugarin married HPD Officer Christopher Bugarin and won the 2019 Mrs. Hawaii America beauty pageant. On the pageant's website, she said she was especially proud to receive the Bronze Medal of Valor for saving a suicidal man.

Damon addressed the court and said, “I wanted to express my feelings.”

He asked the judge to review the evidence “and please give me a second chance.”

He told the Kolona family: “I am truly sorry for the loss of your boys. I understand how you feel. … I am not that kind of person.”

And he thanked his family for their support and said he now walks by faith.

The judge said Damon had a previous criminal record as a juvenile.

While Damon, wearing a ski mask, told the large group of friends gathered at a lookout point on Round Top Drive that it was a robbery, testimony from Damon's former friend Uilani Yen seems to indicate that he was jealous of Edward Aiden Curti. Damon “wanted her to go out with him and went out with Aiden's group instead,” Jackson had told the jury.

Many in the group knew Damon and could identify him.

Kawena Kolona told the judge: “My brother was killed by Nainoa, who wanted to look cool in front of his friends, and all because of a necklace and a girl. … But my brother, who is irreplaceable, lost his life for something so stupid and senseless.”

The judge said Damon's crime began when he drove toward Tantalus and did not back down despite the confrontation.

She said: “The nature of the crimes for which Mr Damon is convicted are appalling.” He had “acted out of greed and with callous disregard for life,” had demanded a gold chain from Curti and had not backed away when he saw Kolona reaching for a weapon.

Instead, Damon pulled Kolona towards him and shot him in the stomach.

His attorney, Nelson Goo, said the 20 to 25 letters of support spoke to his character and that Damon had no other convictions as an adult other than this incident.

Park said she considered “every single one” of the many letters and words of support she received for both men, including Damon, who was 19 at the time of the March 2022 shooting during a botched robbery at a lookout point, and other factors.

She said Kolona was not the only victim. She named some of the 13 witnesses who were traumatized, feeling the terror of the gun pointed at them and the feeling of helplessness.

Both the community and her immediate family have suffered, Park said.

Carolee Kolona said it was “an agony that you carry around with you every day,” the judge noted, and Blake Kolona said, “I don't even know how to explain the pain that I feel.”

Park said Damon's family wrote that he had a history of juvenile delinquency and was struggling with life.

But Nainoa, loved by his family, was different from the man who committed the crimes, she said.

During his senior year of high school, he moved in with his grandparents to help his ailing grandfather, hugged his “papa”—as his mother wrote to the judge—and volunteered with her to help feed the homeless.

The judge said, “This sentence alone will not end the violence in our community,” and implored the community to do everything in its power to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and thus avoid further violence.