HILO — The prosecution and defense agree that Tito Rafol was slain in a Waikoloa hotel's parking lot because of a long-term affair with the accused's wife.

In her opening statement Monday in the murder trial of Lito Mateo, Deputy Prosecutor Darien Ching Nagata described the situation that led to the March 8, 2007, shooting death of Rafol as "a classic love triangle situation."

Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara's courtroom was mostly empty. No family members of either Mateo or Rafol were present at the trial, which continues today.

Rafol, 38, was shot 18 times at about 4 p.m., during the day-evening shift change at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. Police arrested Mateo, 56, of Waikoloa at the hotel, and charged him with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony.

Police recovered a silver .45 caliber Springfield semi-automatic pistol they say Mateo used to kill Rafol.

Mateo had two full-time jobs, as a landscaper at the Fairmont Orchid during the day, and as a kitchen utility steward at the Marriott at night. Cornelia Mateo and Rafol were both employed as Marriott housekeepers.

Two eyewitnesses, Allan Bala, a longtime Marriott employee, and Jason Castro, operations manager at the Kings' Shops at Waikoloa, testified Monday they saw Mateo shoot Rafol repeatedly with the silver handgun. Both said Mateo changed clips twice and continued to shoot as Rafol lay face down on the pavement.

"I went back to my car," Bala said. "... I cannot think; I was shocked. So I just drive back home." Bala said that Cornelia Mateo and Rafol's sister, Adoracion Acidera, also witnessed the slaying.

In his opening argument, Mateo's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Michael Ebesugawa, laid the groundwork for a possible defense on the grounds of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, which could result in a lesser verdict of manslaughter.

"You will be asked to decide not only the issue of what happened in the parking lot of the Waikoloa Beach Marriott, but why it happened," Ebesugawa said.

Nagata told the jury that Mateo's concealment of the handgun in a denim jacket, his reloading twice and continued shooting show Mateo was "executing a plan" to kill Rafol, which she said would rule out extreme mental or emotional disturbance.

Ebesugawa countered that the almost decade-long affair between Rafol and Mateo's wife, Cornelia, repeated denials by Rafol and Cornelia Mateo, plus gossip and notes about the affair left in Mateo's locker had caused Mateo "considerable stress and emotional turmoil."

"In a small community like a hotel, and the Filipino community in Waikoloa, it was impossible not to hear the talk, and Mr. Mateo heard the talk," Ebesugawa said. "He overheard people at the hotel he was working at talking about his wife and Tito Rafol."

Ebesugawa said that the Mateos' oldest son, Henry, 28, a cook at the Marriott, also heard the rumors, as did their 26-year-old daughter, Dina.

Ebesugawa said that Mateo at first chose to ignore rumors of the affair, which Ebesugawa said started in "1999 or 2000."

"He ignored the rumors because he was ashamed," Ebesugawa noted. "He ignored the rumors until Tito Rafol's wife, Lee-Ann, a co-worker of (Mateo's) at the Fairmont Orchid, approached him and told him that her husband and his wife were having an affair."

Ebesugawa said that Rafol's wife twice approached Mateo and told him about the affair, and that Mateo heard a message in a male voice on Cornelia Mateo's cell phone voice mail.

"While the message itself was mundane, the voice addressed Cornelia as 'honey' or 'baby,' " Ebesugawa said. He said that Cornelia Mateo told her husband the message was "either a wrong number or a crank call."

"She knew, however, that this was a message from Tito Rafol," Ebesugawa said.

Ebesugawa said that Mateo, who was born with missing and deformed fingers on both hands, felt — in addition to being cuckolded — that Rafol was disrespecting him openly.

"Rafol refused to admit to the affair," Ebesugawa said. "He would dismiss Mr. Mateo, threaten him, and would never address him by name. Instead, Rafol called him 'pukol.' 'Pukol' in Ilocano means 'to lose an appendage, like a hand or a foot.' He called Mr. Mateo 'pukol,' which roughly means, 'no fingers.' "

Hilo attorney Martin Berger has filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit on behalf of Lee-Ann Rafol and children Kaylee and Kyle Rafol against Mateo, Cornelia Mateo, Henry Mateo, the Marriott and others.

That suit, which is being heard by Kona Circuit Judge Elizabeth Strance, seeks unspecified damages and accuses Mateo of "outrageous, wrongful, wanton, reckless, intentional, negligent, and grossly negligent actions."

It states Lee-Ann Rafol continues to suffer "serious mental trauma, pain and suffering, severe emotional distress and grief, as well as the loss of consortium, society, companionship, advice and counsel, and affection" from the loss of her husband, and that the Rafol children are suffering "the loss of the paternal love, support, attention, guidance and friendship" of their father.

The suit also alleges that "based on information and belief" Marriott officials "knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known of ... Mateo's severe and extreme emotional and mental distress, (and) propensity and tendency to cause to cause injury, even death" to Rafol.