HILO, Hawai'i — Hyacinth Poouahi, caregiver for an abused 10-year-old Big Island girl who nearly died from her injuries in 2005, pleaded guilty to four felony charges in the case today.

Poouahi's lawyer Keith Shigetomi said Poouahi was responsible for the girl, knew the girl was being hurt and failed to rescue her, but said Poouahi did not actually inflict the severe injuries the child suffered.

Shigetomi declined to say who did assault the girl, but court records show another member of the family alleged in 2005 that Poouahi's underage son had been hurting the girl, and in one instance had stabbed the 10-year-old in the ankle with a steak knife.

Shigetomi and Poouahi, 40, said they are subject to a Family Court "gag order" and could not answer questions about any Family Court proceedings.

Today Poouahi pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, terroristic threatening and endangering the welfare of a child. In exchange for those guilty pleas, Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville agreed to drop a charge of attempted murder.

Poouahi sobbed as she read aloud from a prepared statement in which she said she was "extremely sorry" and admitted that "I knew that (the girl) was suffering from serious harm, and I failed to obtain proper and timely medical attention for her."

That delay caused some of the girl's wounds to become infected, leaving her in critical condition, Poouahi said.

"Due to my fear of someone finding out, I told (the girl) not to tell anyone what was happening to her," Poouahi said in her statement. "On more than one occasion, I threatened to punish (the girl) if she told anyone what was happening to her."

The girl and her family are not being identified by The Advertiser to protect the girl's privacy.

Poouahi faces up to 10 years in prison for the assault charge and up to five years in prison for each of the other charges when she is sentenced by Hilo Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hara on Aug. 27.

Police became involved in the case after Poouahi finally called an ambulance to Poouahi's 'Ainaloa home on Feb. 7, 2005, when the girl could not be roused.

The girl was not related to Poouahi's family, and police and neighbors have said the girl had been dropped off in November 2004 at the Woodrose Drive home by her mother, who was a friend of Poouahi. Acquaintances of the injured girl and her mother have said the child had an unstable life and had been left with a series of caregivers over the years.

Court records say the ambulance crew found the girl lying on a couch on the lanai of the home with a cut on her head that was "decomposing and containing maggots."

She also had injuries to her upper lip and other areas of her body that showed "signs of decomposition," according to court records.

A doctor at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children who treated the girl later told police that marks on the girl's body suggested she had been bound, and that "she had several areas of dead tissue about her body as a result of pressure ulcering (often called bedsores) and burns that appeared to be from a cigarette and cigarette lighter," according to a district court affidavit.

The girl also was suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition, and had broken bones in her left hand and left foot, the doctor reported.

The girl went into cardiac arrest at the hospital and had to be revived, and was in a coma at the hospital for a time.

Poouahi claimed in a 2005 interview she suspected that the girl cut herself and picked at her wounds, causing a severe infection Poouahi said in that interview that the girl's condition suddenly deteriorated on Feb. 6, prompting her to call an ambulance the following day.

The girl, now 13, is living with family on the Big Island.