A father who was indicted by the O'ahu grand jury on assault charges yesterday in a Waikele beating case was not motivated by racial hatred, and his son regrets uttering a racial remark during the incident, the boy's mother said yesterday.

"He wished he used another word or didn't even use the word (haole)," the 16-year-old boy's mother, Joreen Pa'akaula, said yesterday in her first public comments since the Feb. 19 incident caused a firestorm of controversy over whether the beating was racially motivated.

She said the words were spoken out of frustration and anger by the son, who counts Caucasians among his closest friends.

"We're praying for them (the victims) every day, and so is my son," Pa'akaula said, choking back tears. "I pray that they heal quickly and they know that we are very sorry that this has happened."

Asked what she would tell the Army couple beaten at the Waikele Shopping Center parking lot, Pa'akaula said she would say her family is generous and loving.

"There isn't an inch of hate in our being, in our behavior, in our everyday living," she said.

Pa'akaula's husband, Gerald, was indicted on second-degree assault charges, accusing him of beating Andrew Dussell, 26, an Army man who served two tours of duty in Iraq, and his wife, Dawn, 23, a Hawai'i Pacific University student. The couple suffered broken noses, concussions and facial fractures.

The Pa'akaulas' son also was arrested, but because he is a juvenile, his case is being handled in confidential Family Court proceedings. A police affidavit said he referred to Andrew Dussell as a "f------ haole" after Dussell's SUV bumped the Pa'akaulas' car in the parking lot.

Gerald Pa'akaula's attorney, Todd Eddins, a former public defender, said the characterization of the case as Hawaiians versus Caucasians is "reprehensible."

"The family does not have one bone of prejudice in them," he said, adding that Gerald Pa'akaula is half Hawaiian and half Caucasian. "They certainly regret what has happened to the other family and is grateful the family is OK, but to suggest that there is anything racial about this family and this incident is totally at odds with what transpired that day."

THE FIRST BLOW

Eddins said it was Dawn Dussell who threw the first blow after she and the teenager exchanged heated words during which the boy uttered the racial remark. Eddins said Dawn Dussell repeatedly struck the teenager.

"That doesn't necessarily excuse what later transpired, but it needs to be known that things did not start or get out of hand (because of) my client," Eddins said.

Gerald Pa'akaula, a truck driver, was released on $20,000 bail, but after the indictment was returned yesterday, Circuit Judge Derrick Chan granted the prosecution's request to increase the bail to $50,000.

Eddins said Gerald Pa'akaula will surrender to police today and post $50,000 bail to get released.

In asking for bail five times the normal amount for the two felonies, which each carries a prison term of up to five years, city deputy prosecutor Franklin Pacarro Jr. referred to Pa'akaula's 2002 conviction of abusing a household member for beating the son.

Pacarro also said Gerald Pa'akaula punched Dawn Dussell in the face and slammed her to the ground, causing her to lose consciousness. Gerald Pa'akaula also attacked the husband, punching him in the face and head, knocking him down and kicking him, Pacarro said. Pa'akaula's son also kicked Andrew Dussell on the ground, Pacarro said.

Andrew Dussell had a tooth knocked out and appeared to go into convulsions with his body stiffening and shaking, the deputy prosecutor said. Andrew Dussell also lost consciousness and the next he remembers is waking at The Queen's Medical Center, the prosecutor said.

Pacarro told the judge that Gerald Pa'akaula made "threatening remarks" to witnesses who remained at the scene to tell police what happened.

The prosecutor said the Dussells also fear retaliation.

Judge Chan issued an order directing Gerald Pa'akaula not to have any contact with the Dussells or witnesses.

The Dussells testified in confidential proceedings before the grand jury, but Jim Fulton, executive assistant at the prosecutor's office, said both are declining to comment because the case is pending.

Because of the reported use of the phrase "f...... haole," some have called for the Pa'akaulas to be prosecuted for committing a "hate crime," which would double the five-year maximum sentence for each count of assault.

Pacarro outside of court echoed what prosecutors had indicated earlier in saying that the assault was not a hate crime, but a road-rage case. The police affidavit said the assault occurred after Andrew Dussell drove a Dodge Durango into a parking stall and accidentally hit the Pa'akaulas' green Chevrolet.

Pacarro said his office considered a hate crime prosecution, but under the law, the prosecution must show that the victims were targeted because of their race, and that was not the case here. "This thing happened because of a traffic accident," he said.

Eddins said he'll have to review the evidence before deciding on the best way to mount a defense.

He said the boy is not disputing saying "f------ haole" but is disputing the context in which the words were used. The boy was not referring to the Dussells, Eddins said, but the remark was "more generic" and the teenager meant the two were "acting like f------ haoles."

"I think anybody who has grown up here in Hawai'i realizes when somebody says somebody is acting like a f------ haole, it's not necessarily directed specifically at that person, but more as a generic type of definition of behavior," said Eddins, who was born and raised here.

'PROBABLE CAUSE'

On the issue of whether Dawn Dussell threw the first blows, the prosecutor, Fulton, would only say that the grand jury heard evidence and concluded there was "probable cause" for the assault charges against Gerald Pa'akaula.

Eddins said the Pa'akaula family has been "devastated" by the way the case has been portrayed.

He said the family reported to police that they received death threats and their home has been broken into twice. Eddins produced a tape of what he said was one voice message left on the Pa'akaulas' phone. The voice said the Pa'akaula home would be "attacked tonight and tomorrow night ... stay away from windows to avoid sniper fire."

"It's an incredibly demoralizing, devastating and scary thing for the family," Eddins said.

"While this incident, like any assault incident, is a regrettable incident, things have taken on a life of their own, and the only reason why things have taken on a life of their own is this whole notion of haoles versus Hawaiians, and that is not the case here," Eddins said.

He said the Pa'akaulas are strong members of a church. A service will be held at 7:30 tonight at the Holy Hill of Zion church in Wai'anae to "try to have everybody heal."

"These are good people who have really been run through the mud in this case," Eddins said. "Certainly they regret what happened, but when the real circumstances are brought forth, there is a lot more to this event than has been portrayed."

Joreen Pa'akaula, 43, who works at a resort souvenir shop and might be speaking at tonight's service, said the public has been "misled" about what happened at Waikele that day.

"At the end of all this, the truth will come out," she said.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.