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A 52-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for kidnapping his ex-wife and holding her in an airport hotel room for 12 hours while he assaulted and threatened her with a stun gun. Man who kidnapped,
assaulted ex-wife gets
20 year sentenceBy Debra Barayuga
Star-BulletinCircuit Judge Virginia Crandall also ordered Hidehisa Semba yesterday to serve a mandatory minimum of two years and six months on a related drug charge.
Semba pleaded guilty last September to eight felony counts, including two counts of kidnapping, punishable by 20-year terms, first-degree burglary, first-degree terroristic threatening and first-degree attempted assault in the incident on Jan. 18, 2000.
William Harrison, Semba's attorney, said his client has a psychotic disorder, which he believes contributed to his behavior.
Semba allegedly hired a couple to help him break into his ex-wife's Ala Moana apartment and assault her and her male companion before tying them up.
They tossed his ex-wife into a shopping cart, took her to their car and drove her to an airport hotel room where she managed to escape the next morning.
The woman later told police that Semba bragged about his ties to Japanese yakuza and threatened to have the yakuza kill her and her children. He also threatened to torture and kill her with an ice pick.
The woman suffered "psychological and physical harm" from the incident, prosecutors said. When she was rescued, she had blood on her clothes, black eyes, a split lip, bruises all over her body and was crying hysterically, according to police.
Harrison had said earlier that Semba was mentally ill and under the influence of crystal methamphetamine at the time of the incident.
Semba also allegedly believed that he was rescuing her from the man in her apartment.
Semba has denied any ties to the yakuza.
Crandall also ordered Semba to pay restitution of $135 to the Crime Injuries Compensation Fund and $10,500 to his ex-wife for a necklace she lost during the kidnapping.