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Probable cause found to charge man in hostage taking
Defense calls to the witness stand defendant’s common-law wife, minor child
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has found probable cause to warrant the filing of charges against Gordon Aldan Castro, a 27-year-old man accused of holding his family hostage for seven hours at his house in Afetnas.
After hearing the witnesses’ testimony and counsels’ arguments during Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Camacho ordered Castro to answer the charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, and disturbing the peace.
Arraignment will be on Oct. 19, 2015, at 9am.
After the hearing, Castro was remanded into the custody of the Department of Corrections.
Assistant attorney general Shannon Foley called to the witness stand Rudolpho Hermosilla, who basically narrated to the court the circumstances leading to the suspect’s arrest.
Assistant public defender Matthew Meyer called to the witness stand Castro’s common-law wife and one of their children.
According to the charges, Castro held his family hostage on Sept. 26, 2015, threatening his common-law-wife with a knife if police wouldn’t leave while confining her and their two minor children to the house. The seven-hour hostage drama began at 10:42pm.
Castro allegedly threatened to kill his wife while holding a knife to her neck, causing her to scream, “Let me go! You’re hurting me!”
Castro was already sleeping with his family when members of the Department of Public Safety’s Special Enforcement and Action Section entered the house on Sept. 27 at 5:46am, according to police detective Therese S. Kintoki in her report.
Kintoki said that when SEAS officers got inside the house at 5:46am, Castro was sleeping on the couch beside his wife while their two children were on the other side of the couch.
Kintoki said the wife and two children, ages 9 and 3, were escorted out and examined by medics, while Castro was arrested and brought to the Department of Corrections.
