Six Waipahu residents accused of beating a Waipahu man after he asked for a cigarette Friday night were charged with attempted murder yesterday.

The three men and three women appeared in court and were being held in lieu of $30,000 bail each. They will appear on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

Charged with second-degree attempted murder were Paulo Ioane, 20; Jeremiah Leota, 26; Jimmy Robinson, 19; Ana Lealiiee, 45; Eliza Lealiiee, 19; and Jamel Leota, 25. A 15-year-old girl also was arrested for investigation of attempted murder.

A police affidavit identified the victim as Sekolaia Vainikolo, 25, of Waipahu. He was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition.

The affidavit said Vainikolo's wife dropped him off Friday night at Pupuole Street and he crossed the street to ask a group of people for a cigarette. A male punched Vainikolo in the face.

The rest of the group of seven or eight women then punched and kicked Vainikolo and hit him with bottles. Vainikolo broke away from the group and started to walk east when a white Jeep Cherokee hit him twice, the affidavit said. Three men got out of the Jeep, and the driver beat Vainikolo as he lay on the ground and the two passengers hit him with a baseball bat, the affidavit said.

A relative of the suspects, Kevin Kealiiee, told The Advertiser on Sunday that the victim was intoxicated, asked for a cigarette in a rude manner and started the fight when he hit Kealiiee's younger sister in the face.

The neighborhood is known as a high-crime area and has been designated as a Weed & Seed drug eradication neighborhood. It is often without street signs or has rubbish lining the streets, said Maureen Andrade, a Waipahu Neighborhood Board member. A former resident of the area, Andrade said problems have gotten worse, with more cases of physical abuse than in years past.

"It has become a problem area for our community," Andrade said. "Waipahu is a very diverse culture. Much of the problem comes from people not wanting to integrate into the community."

The Rev. Luuga Vailuu, the grandfather of Jamel and Jeremiah Leota, said police simply rounded up everyone who was on the street after the 11:20 p.m. Friday incident.

"The police didn't look into it far enough," Vailuu said. "The police know the truth. They just arrested them without knowing the truth. It is only one side of the story."

After the suspects' appearance in court yesterday, Jamel Leota's mother said the area is very rough. The woman, who would not give her name because of fear of retaliation, said it is common to see drug sales going on in the community. She said her children told Vainikolo to go away.

But instead, Vainikolo allegedly hit her niece in the face, she said.

"We will do what we can to protect our family," the woman said. "We're trying to keep it calm and cool. These people drive into our community by the truckloads taunting us.

"But we can protect ourselves. We won't sit there and let them attack us. The police know that area is always filled with retaliation. It's like a ghetto.

"It might get worse than what happened that night."