2 men hurt in robbery, kidnapping

Two men sustained serious injuries last Saturday when two other men with whom they had been drinking with later allegedly beat them up separately and took their wallets and other items.

The first victim, a 37-year-old Japanese male, suffered a brain contusion, a fractured nose, a fractured periorbital (eye socket), and endocrinal hemorrhage (bleeding on the inner lining membrane of the skull).

The other victim, a 26-year-old Chamorro male, sustained a fractured right orbit below the eyeball, laceration on the back of the head, and a subconjunctival hemorrhage in the right eye (blood collected under the transparent tissue that covers the white of the eye).

Police said the victims were separately brought to the Commonwealth Health Center for treatment of their injuries. It was only at the hospital that the two friends learned of each other’s fate.

Police arrested on Monday night suspects Kesner Esefow, 20, and Donovan S. Ludwig, 22, for robbery, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault and battery, assault, and disturbing the peace.

Esefow and Ludwig, who are cousins, were served with an arrest warrant in Koblerville and Kagman 3, respectively.

At yesterday’s bail hearing, Superior Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio granted assistant attorney general Heather Barcinas’ request to increase the $50,000 cash bail to $100,000 cash.

Kim-Tenorio, however, said she would allow the suspects to post just $10,000 cash bail each—10 percent of the $100,000—and require third-party custodians, among other bail conditions.

Preliminary hearing will be on Sept. 2 at 1:30pm.

Police detective Flora Danica B. Aguon stated in her report that the Department of Public Safety Central Dispatcher received a call on Sunday at 1:56am about a possible injured person at a house in Kagman III along the Forbidden Island Road.

When a police officer arrived at the scene, he met the Japanese victim, whose face was swollen and covered with blood.

Medics arrived and brought the victim to CHC for treatment.

Later that same day, at 3:23am, a police officer was dispatched to a disturbance call at an apartment in Garapan where the Japanese victim stays.

When two police officers arrived at the apartment, they met the Chamorro victim, whose face was covered with blood and had a swollen lower lip and laceration on the back of the head. Medics brought the victim to CHC for treatment.

Aguon said that during her interview on Monday with the Japanese victim at CHC, she learned that he and suspect Esefow are friends.

That day at 3pm, the victim picked up Esefow and the latter’s cousin, Ludwig, at a store in Koblerville and proceeded to a pavilion across Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium where they had a drinking session. They later moved to the Fishing Base in Garapan, where the Chamorro victim joined them.

The four then moved to the beach behind Town House, where they ate, swam, and drank until 9pm. They then proceeded to the Japanese victim’s apartment in Garapan.

Esefow and Ludwig then borrowed the Japanese victim’s car, a 2005 Mazda 3, to buy cigarettes. When the suspects returned, the Japanese victim could not find his house key, which was bunched with his car key.

The Japanese victim took the suspects to drop them home in Koblerville, while the Chamorro victim stayed behind in the apartment to rest.

Before heading to Koblerville, the victim drove to Martha’s Store where the suspects earlier bought cigarettes to look for his house key, as it might have fallen there. At Martha’s Store, Ludwig got down and asked a man who works at the store about the key. The man claimed he found the key in the parking lot.

The suspects then asked the Japanese victim to park in the open field by KB Laundry near DPS Fire Station 4. Once there, Ludwig told the Japanese he needs to go to his house in Kagman and grabbed the car key from him and began driving .

The Japanese noticed that it was already 1am so he told them to turn the car around and go back to Koblerville so he can drop them off.

The suspects ignored him. When they reached a house near Forbidden Island, the suspects got down and ganged up on the victim, punching him in the face repeatedly.

Esefow dragged the victim out of the car and slammed his face on the car and on the ground. He also kept punching the victim’s face.

Esefow then picked up the victim and placed him in the back seat and, together with Ludwig, continued punching him.

The suspects threatened to kill the victim. Esefow told the victim they would go back to the victim’s house so they could get his wallet.

With the victim in the back seat, the suspects drove to another house, where some people were drinking. The suspects went inside the house.

Seeing his chance to escape, the victim got out of the vehicle and ran toward a nearby house, where he banged on the door for help.

The suspects chased him, but they stopped and ran back to the car when they saw him banging on the door.

Aguon said that, according to her interview of the Chamorro victim on Monday, he was asleep on the couch in the Japanese victim’s apartment when he was awakened by a blow to his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw Ludwig holding a keyboard and whacking it on his face.

The victim tried to fight back, but Esefow hit him on the back and his head with a plastic chair. The suspects also threw objects at him.

The suspects then grabbed some items in the apartment, including the victims’ wallets, car key, and laptop.

As the suspects ran off, the victim gave chase but failed to catch them.

The victim then asked a neighbor from the same apartment to call the police.

Saipan Tribune learned that police later recovered the victim’s car.