Nearly 3 decades after his death, Peter Boy Kema’s siblings can finally breathe
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The latest episode of Hawaii News Now’s investigative podcast, The Other Side of Paradise, details a $3.25 million settlement between the state of Hawaiʻi and the three surviving siblings of Peter Boy Kema.
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The agreement, reached in August 2026, resolves an eight-year civil wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2018. Host Lynn Kawano details how the settlement ends a decades-long legal fight over the 1997 death of the 6-year-old child and mandates a formal apology from the state.
Listen to The Other Side of Paradise here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Testimony reveals ignored child abuse reports
In Episode 36, the siblings’ civil attorney, Randall Rosenberg, outlines sworn testimonies exposing severe protocols violations within Child Protective Services.
Rosenberg details a January 1997 report made by the child’s grandparents regarding a broken arm and a black eye. A Kona CPS employee testified under oath that Hilo supervisor Peggy Hilton instructed her not to file an official intake. The report disappeared, and no investigator was assigned.
On April 4, 1997, a therapist reported that the child was being forced to eat dog feces and had a broken arm. Rosenberg said an investigator was not assigned for two and a half months. By the time police and CPS went to the home, the child was already dead.
“Had they shown up within 24 hours of either one of those reports, they would have seen his arm in a bandage, they would have investigated — we presume — and then they would have removed him and all of the kids from the household because of what was going on. And they never did that,” Rosenberg said.
Siblings share memories and survival
The episode features raw, personal interviews with Kema’s siblings—Chauntelle, Allan, and Lina Acol—who were permanently returned to their grandparents after their brother’s death.
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Chauntelle Acol discusses the severe physical abuse her brother endured and the heavy burden of survivor’s guilt she carried into adulthood. She said reaching the settlement felt like a “big exhale” after holding her breath for decades.
Lina Acol, who now works as a pediatric behavioral therapist in Florida, shares how her personal trauma motivated her career to keep vulnerable children from falling through the cracks.
Allan Acol still resides on the Big Island, in what was their grandparents’ home.
“I did not deserve to go through what I had to go through,” he said. “It just eats at you. And so you just, you really question the kind of person that you are.”
The siblings continue to honor their brother every year on May 1. Allan Acol visits the small memorial they set up at the old Kona Airport Beach while his sisters video call from Florida.
The settlement must now be approved by the state legislature and the court, a step expected to be finalized in 2027.
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