On June 1, 27-year-old Charleigh Flournoy of Kailua-Kona, allegedly broke into Huliheʻe palace by shattering a lanai window located on the lower makai side.
Flournoy triggered alarms which notified staff who were unable to locate her as she wandered around, making her way upstairs to the makai lanai. Staff also reported that she unsuccessfully attempted to leave by repeatedly kicking a door made of koa, breaking off panels in the process.
Flournoy was then spotted by an on-site caretaker and exited the palace’s back door. A Hawai’i Police Department officer apprehended the intruder after she jumped over a seawall and swam to the other side of Kailua Bay.
Tam Sing inspected the damage three days later. The door and glass date back to the 1800’s, when King David Kalākaua renovated the palace. In a statement Sing said, “old glass is very hard to find, so repairs will have to use new aged glass instead.” Sing worked with the DLNR State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) to receive concurrence on emergency repairs.
DPS staff contacted Glenn Mason of Mason Architecture & Historic Consulting to order aged glass to replace the shattered window panel. They anticipate hiring a qualified carpenter to do the work. The cost of the damage hasn’t been determined yet. Repair funds will come from DSP or through the insurance of Daughters of Hawai‘i, the non-profit operating and managing Hulihe‘e Palace.
