Couple in court on Eagle Mountain abuse charges

PROVO — Family members and friends filled the courtroom's public seating area, hugging each other and sobbing.

Sitting in a chair in front of the jury box, Sekoa Aiono occasionally glanced over the nearly three dozen people there to support him, then wiped his eyes with his handcuffed hands.

Aiono, 37, and Mary Heath, 33, were in 4th District Court for the first time Wednesday morning on 10 felony charges stemming from arrests in what investigators called a "shocking" case of child abuse in Eagle Mountain.

The charges include aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and nine counts of child abuse, a second-degree felony.

Judge Gary Stott read the charges and the time frame for the alleged abuse, Oct. 1, 2007, to October 2008. Each charge has the same time frame, said prosecutor Curtis Larson.

"We will leave it up to the court and just pray that everything (works out)," an emotional Tusi Aiono, brother of Sekoa, said after the hearing. "But for now, we just gotta give him the support he really needs."

Family and friends streamed out of the courtroom, their arms around each other, still wiping at their eyes.

Police arrested Heath and Aiono Oct. 14 after neighbors in Eagle Mountain called 911 to report a young girl wandering around nearly naked in their backyard.

Investigators from the Utah Valley Special Victims Unit said they found Heath's 9-year-old niece in the yard, wearing nothing but underwear and holding newspaper around her to keep warm.

The underweight, bruised girl told them she had escaped from a locked bathroom by climbing out the window and dropping 12 feet to the ground.

Her 6-year-old brother was still locked in a separate bathroom, she said, according to a police affidavit filed in 4th District Court.

When police found the young boy, he was so bruised and malnourished they worried he was already dead, said Utah County Sheriff Lt. Mike Brower.

They later tracked down and arrested Heath, who said she had been in Salt Lake eating dinner, attending a football game and running errands. She said she gained custody of the children nearly a year ago from her sister.

Heath's attorney, Ann Boyle, appeared for the first time in court as well and said she would be filing an official appearance with the court. She declined comment as she left the courtroom.

Aiono was appointed a public defender.