The victim in an April 3 Chinatown stabbing attack yesterday identified one of his assailants as Hine Laloulu, 22, who is now being held on a charge of attempted murder.

Police have described the attack and the March 28 shooting death of Joseph Peneueta as part of a turf war between rival criminal groups from San Francisco and Honolulu.

Stabbing victim Antonius Toloai testified yesterday afternoon in a preliminary hearing in District Court that he arrived here from San Francisco three months ago. He said he was on River Street the morning of April 3, five days after Peneueta was shot to death, and passed a makeshift memorial erected by friends and family of Peneueta on the sidewalk.

A group of some seven men accosted Toloai and two companions, punching a woman and chasing down Toloai, then stabbing, kicking and punching him while he was on his knees on the ground, Toloai said yesterday.

He identified Laloulu, who is known as "Tiny," as one of his attackers and said Laloulu stabbed him once in the stomach.

Asked by Deputy Prosecutor Keith Seto how long the knife was, Toloai said he didn't know.

"Two, three inches?" Seto asked.

"I'm not mathematical," Toloai responded.

He gave the same answer when Seto asked him how far Laloulu was when he stabbed him.

Toloai said Laloulu also was "punching and holding me" while another man stabbed him three more times.

None of the wounds penetrated beyond the layer of subcutaneous fat under Toloai's skin, Dr. Andrew Tan, a trauma surgeon who treated the victim at The Queen's Medical Center, testified in the hearing.

Defense lawyer Nelson Goo argued during the hearing that because the wounds could not have caused fatal injuries, there was not probable cause to hold Laloulu on a charge of attempted murder.

But District Judge Leslie Hayashi found that the state had presented enough evidence to bind Laloulu over for trial on the attempted murder charge.

He is to be arraigned on the charge April 27 in Circuit Court and is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Goo asked Toloai about reports that he was drinking alcohol as he passed by Peneueta's memorial and may have been accosted because of a lack of respect for the dead man.

Toloai said he had purchased vodka and orange juice in a market near where he was attacked but had consumed only one shot of vodka, was not drunk and was not disrespectful.

Toloai was not asked about police allegations that the shooting and stabbing are rooted in a dispute between organized crime groups from San Francisco and Honolulu.

The men charged with murdering Peneueta, Iosefa Pasene and Zorro Rye, are originally from San Francisco, according to court records.

In late March, Pasene and Toloai were charged with third-degree possession of a dangerous drug and are awaiting trial in that case.

A third man arrested in that case, Cedro Muna, 22, was the person who drove Toloai to Queen's after he had been stabbed, Toloai testified in the preliminary hearing.

Toloai said when he was attacked, he was walking with two friends along River Street. One of the friends, a man, is named "Hit" because he is good at hitting baseballs, Toloai said. The other, a woman, is named Natalie, Toloai said. She was treated for several injuries at the hospital and released.