Las Vegas man charged with murder in Dec. 9 attack near UNLV
A father and son are facing murder charges after a transient man was fatally beaten with a metal pipe earlier this month near UNLV.
The Clark County coroner’s office said Sean Witkowski, 31, of Las Vegas died from multiple blunt force injuries to his head and torso. Father and son Fili Fagaima, 51, and Aaron Makuakane, 18, were initially booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Dec. 10 on charges of battery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy.
Metropolitan Police Department officers first responded about 8:30 p.m. Dec. 9 to the 7-Eleven on the corner of Twain Avenue and Swenson Street.
Witkowski and his girlfriend had been gambling at the convenience store, and when they ran out of money, the store clerk told them to leave right away because they had their bags all over the area and were homeless, according to the report.
Witkowski’s girlfriend told police they were pleading their case to stay when the clerk made a phone call “saying the tall white boy who is always here (referring to Witkowski) is threatening to beat my ass,” the report said.
Shortly afterward, two men, identified by police as Fagaima and Makuakane, approached them from behind. One man hit Witkowski in the head with a pipe about 2 feet long. Then the pipe was handed to the other man, who began to hit Witkowski, who had dropped to the ground. The men continued hitting him with the pipe and kicking him, punching him and stomping on him, the report said. The girlfriend was with Witkowski during beating, but there’s no indication that she was attacked.
Makuakane told police that he and his dad ran up Witkowski, and the 18-year-old was the first to hit him with the pipe and only hit him once in the forehead.
“You brought this on yourself, you should never have threatened my mom,” Makuakane told police.
The report said Makuakane is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs approximately 405 pounds.
Fagaima told police he got a call from his wife, the 7-Eleven clerk, who said someone was threatening to “cut and beat her up,” according to the report. His wife told him Witkowski normally carries a knife, so Fagaima called his son to bring him his “iron.”
Fagaima told police he “whacked him” because he thought he had a knife, even though he never saw a knife, the report said.
Witkowski was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. He had a skull fracture, a brain bleed and a broken left hand. He was placed on life support and died several days later, police said Monday.
Fagaima and Makuakane were held on $12,000 bail. Both men were scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Dec. 28, court records said. Fagaima got a bail bond and was released Thursday. But he was brought back to jail without bail to face a murder charge the next day, jail logs show.
Police said Monday that Makuakane would also face amended charges.
Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter.
