HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island man who has been charged with murdering his 14-year-old son and unborn child in a knife attack is being sued by his estranged wife.

Cheryl-Lyn Vesperas filed lawsuits last week against Tyrone Vesperas in 3rd Circuit Court on behalf of herself and her late son, Tyran Vesperas-Saniatan.

Tyran, 14, died on June 11, 2007. The boy's death stemmed from a physical confrontation between his parents, Cheryl and Tyrone, in their 'Ainaloa home.

Police have said that Tyrone Vesperas stabbed his estranged wife repeatedly in the abdomen with a military knife, and that Tyran was stabbed in the neck when he tried to intervene.

The boy died at the scene; Cheryl-Lyn Vesperas fled the house and was picked up by an ambulance. Doctors could not save her unborn child, named Matthew Kaimana Erece-Saniatan.

The incident came about a year and a half after Tyrone Vesperas returned from Iraq, where he was deployed with the 29th Brigade Combat team as a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard.

Tyrone Vesperas is charged with attempted first-degree murder, second-degree murder, second-degree murder by omission and possessing a deadly weapon. His trial has been delayed repeatedly and is now set for March 22, 2010.

The lawsuit for Tyran's death seeks unspecified damages for medical and funeral costs, future earning capacity and "hedonistic damages for the pain and suffering."

The lawsuit for Cheryl-Lyn Vesperas alleges "severe and permanent injuries, shock, great pain of mind and body, permanent disfigurement and scar(r)ing." She filed for divorce in January.

Asked about Cheryl-Lyn Vesperas' condition, her lawyer, Lionel M. Riley, said, "She is as good as can be after (experiencing) the major trauma that she has," Riley said. "She is taking it one day at a time.

"She still suffers."

Tyrone Vesperas is in Hawai'i Community Correctional Center as he awaits trial.