Oʻahu Social Worker Accused In Daughter’s Death Continued To Work With Kids

Sina Pili entered the downtown Honolulu courtroom in a white paper jumpsuit Thursday morning, her ankles shackled, to face charges that she battered her 11-year-old adopted daughter to death three days before Christmas 2023.

But until six days ago, Pili was still working as a behavioral health specialist at Kahuku High and Intermediate School, where she tended to students with learning disabilities, special needs and behavior issues. She was arrested at the school last Friday for the alleged homicide of Azaeliyah Pili-Ah You.

She pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a minor before Judge Ronald Johnson ordered her held without bail.

“There is a serious risk that she poses a danger,” Johnson said.

That risk has set social media abuzz since the arrests, particularly in the tight-knit community on the North Shore where Pili worked, lived and worshiped. 

“She was my school counselor, wild,” one person said on Instagram. 

“This is crazy, she was helping me with my child years ago, this is mind blowing,” another commented.  

“Why was she allowed to continue to work with kids?” someone asked.

Pili’s job put her in direct contact with vulnerable students. But even once she was under investigation for her daughter’s death, Pili remained at the school working with students.

Protocols requiring schools to remove staff from contact with students for concerns related to their personal life are vague, but experts say it’s always best to err on the safe side.

The Department of Education confirmed Pili’s employment, but did not respond to Civil Beat’s questions about when the school learned about the police investigation. Neither the Honolulu Police Department nor the school’s principal responded to requests for comment on that topic.

In an email to the school community on the day of Pili’s arrest, Kahuku Principal Donna Lindsey told teachers and parents that the “administration is aware of an ongoing law enforcement investigation involving a non-classroom employee.” 

Pili Was Raising 5 Children

Azaeliyah died on Dec. 22, 2023. A police investigation found that Pili had punched and slapped the girl for 30 minutes on the day of her death. An autopsy conducted two days after her death would later reveal that Azaeliyah had deep bruises, fractured ribs, a hemorrhage on the top of her head and indications of strangulation. The forensic pathologist also noted the girl had a bite mark on her nose.

One of five children in the home, Azaeliyah was adopted two months before her death. In the arraignment Thursday, the judge raised concern about potential obstruction of justice and intimidation if Pili were allowed contact with the witnesses, who are minors, presumably referring to the other children, at least three of whom are under the age of 12.

Court records indicate there is currently a no-contact order in place to prevent Pili from communicating with the children if she were out on bail. 

Pili’s four other children are also adopted, including at least one with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She addressed the challenges of raising a kid with the disorder in a 2021 interview with Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s The Conversation.

“When we see these behaviors we may think they’re making those choices, but yet it’s part of their brain disability,” she said, speaking as an advocate for other families in similar situations. “And so I would just say be kind to everybody because you don’t know what everyone is going through.”

Pili has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Hawaiʻi, and she is getting her PhD in the social welfare program at UH, studying prenatal alcohol exposure. She was an adjunct professor in social work at BYU-Hawaii, where she taught one course. Her bio was removed from the university’s online directory the night of her arrest and spokesperson Brooke Peterson said her contract was terminated as soon as administrators became aware of her arrest.

Pili was also active in the Mormon church in the area. On the morning of Azaeliyah’s death, Pili sent the girl to run and walk to the temple across the street, despite the fact that the girl was ill. The autopsy revealed that Azaeliyah had Covid-19, influenza and pneumonia at the time of her death, according to Honolulu police. 

Nearly a dozen people showed up at the courthouse to support Pili on Thursday. She sat solemnly, occasionally whispering to her loved ones gathered in the gallery.

Authorities say that Pili’s husband is still under investigation in the girl’s death. He was performing life-saving care on Azaeliyah when first responders arrived, police said during a press conference last week.

Public records indicate that Sina Pili owns her Lāʻie house with husband Davis Pili. Davis Pili appeared in Civil Beat’s public employee salary database as a correctional officer from 2012 to 2020 and as a court bailiff for the state Judiciary in 2022 and 2024. 

Records show that starting in 2020 Sina and Davis Pili ran a business together called Hui Hanai Pono Consulting LLC. It’s unclear what the business did. A state grant application in 2022 included a biography for Sina Pili, calling her the founder of Hui Hanai Pono. 

She was a work furlough case manager and pretrial officer for the Department of Public Safety and Civil Beat’s salary database lists her as a social worker for the public safety department from 2013 to 2016.

The grant application describes her as a “Pacific Islander woman of Hawaiian and Samoan ancestry raised in Laie. … Married to Davis Pili and together they have four precious children.”

Close Work With Vulnerable Students

Pili worked as a behavioral health specialist at the Department of Education, a role she had held since 2015, according to agency spokesperson Kimi Takazawa. At Kahuku High and Intermediate School, she was one of three who offered mental health and behavioral counseling. 

Many of the students who spend time with counselors like Pili have developmental disabilities and individualized learning plans. Sessions can consist of everything from helping a student with ADHD learn how to regulate themselves when they get overstimulated in the classroom to working on social skills or anger management with an autistic student. 

In that capacity, Pili regularly saw students alone. According to a teacher whose students worked with Pili, she saw kids one-on-one for weekly meetings and led frequent group sessions. If a student she worked with had an emergency in the classroom, the child would be sent to Pili’s office to calm down.
Pili kept working directly with students in the weeks leading up to her arrest, according to a teacher with direct knowledge of her work and social media posts from students and parents. 

The teacher, who spoke with Civil Beat on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the issue and feared reprise, said that her students worked with Pili until at least the week before her arrest and that they had upcoming meetings scheduled with the counselor.

In the days after Pili’s arrest, one social media poster said he was a student who had met with Pili just days before she was taken into custody. 

Police records show that Pili was arrested on campus at Kahuku High and Intermediate School on the afternoon of Friday, March 7. She was placed on leave pending investigation that day, according to Takazawa from the DOE.

At a meeting the following Monday, the principal told staff that the school had previously been unaware of any law enforcement investigation into Pili, according to the teacher, who was present. The DOE says there have been no complaints or investigations related to her work throughout her employment. 

Neither the school nor the Department of Education answered questions from Civil Beat about when they learned of the investigation into Pili. 

Monitoring Off-Campus Behavior Is Difficult, But Necessary

Investigating employees for incidents that happen outside of campus – like abusing their children at home – can be difficult for schools to navigate, said Catherine Payne, a former principal who also chaired the state Board of Education for several years. Ultimately, principals and superintendents have the responsibility of keeping children and schools safe. 

The responsibility of removing staff from the classroom falls on complex area superintendents or assistant superintendents, according to DOE’s policies on employee leave and investigations. Staff may be placed on leave or subject to investigations in cases of alleged sexual misconduct or harm to children, harassment or criminal acts. 

“When credible allegations of employee misconduct arise or employees demonstrate conduct that jeopardizes a safe and healthy learning and work environment, DOE administrators and supervisors must take appropriate and timely administrative action,” the policy says, adding that employees can be removed from the classroom or school campus if necessary. 

Payne said teachers and school staff members are required to report suspicions involving child abuse or neglect, even if they don’t have proof. Following complaints about employees, principals are required to complete a preliminary assessment looking into the allegations and determining if the worker should be put on leave immediately. 

Principals respond to allegations against staff members on a case-by-case basis, Payne added, but it’s best practice to look into concerns about employees’ conduct outside of school if it could impact how they’re interacting with students. 

“I would say if the principal has a strong suspicion or knowledge of something that is of wrongdoing outside of the school, then the principal needs to speak to the supervisors about the next steps,” Payne said. 

While schools need to consult with complex area superintendents before conducting a full investigation and putting employees on leave, Payne said, principals may temporarily send workers home and remove them from campus if they’re receiving complaints that could impact student safety. 

“Diffusing the situation is usually the priority to keep the children safe and removing the volatility out of the situation,” she said. 

Last Friday, after Pili’s arrest, Lindsey — the Kahuku principal — seemed to parrot that protocol in her email to parents and teachers.

“There are established procedures to ensure actions are taken when employees are accused of misconduct and criminal behavior,” she wrote.

Civil Beat investigations editor John Hill contributed to this report