Honolulu Chinatown cook faces permanent vision loss after acid attack

A restaurant cook attacked with acid in Honolulu’s Chinatown may permanently lose vision in one eye as his recovery continues more than two weeks after the assault.

Catch up: Lathson Robert, 30, was working a late shift at Livestock Tavern on Aug. 8 when he was allegedly approached and doused with sulfuric acid by Marquis Johnson, 34, on the face and body. Investigation shows that Robert had never met Johnson before the incident. This marked the third acid attack recorded on Oahu over a two-year period.

How he’s doing: Robert has lost sight in his right eye and underwent recent surgical procedures on his face and stomach. “It’s not clear, like he can’t really see,” his sister Tancher told Island News. “Blurry. It’s like blurry.” Additional operations are planned for his arm and shoulder injuries.

Tancher, who lives in Oregon, expressed frustration at being unable to care for her brother in person. “He’s still in pain, but he’ll recover and hopefully, I pray to God that everything goes well,” she told Hawaii News Now. “That’s my only brother and I can’t believe it, like something had to happen to him.”

Legal proceedings: Johnson, for his part, appeared virtually in court Monday and pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault. Circuit Court Judge Ronald Johnson said the attack appeared planned rather than spontaneous, noting that the defendant had “selected the individual.” Bail was kept at $500,000.

Separately, Johnson recently received a $290,000 settlement from Honolulu related to a 2022 federal lawsuit alleging police misconduct during a 2020 incident. Johnson has his own history as a crime victim, including a 2022 assault in Chinatown that required facial reconstruction surgery.