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Maui man gets
life sentence

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By Gary Kubota
Maui correspondent

WAILUKU -- Maui Prosecutor Richard Bissen said he plans to argue before the Hawaii Paroling Authority that a man who last year stabbed his wife to death in their Waiehu Terrace residence should never be released from prison.

Bissen called Brian Kawamoto a "coward" for killing his 37-year-old wife, Bridget, a substitute teacher at Baldwin High School.

Bissen said Kawamoto was a coward for running away after the killing, failing to take responsibility for it, and forcing his children to go through the reliving of their mother's death through a trial.

Maui Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto yesterday sentenced the 43-year-old Kawamoto to life in prison withthe possibility of parole, plus 12 years.

Kawamoto will probably appear in three to six months before the paroling authority, the agency that determines the minimum term a convict serves before being eligible for release, Bissen said.

Kawamoto was under a court order to stay away from the Waiehu Terrace residence, but he hid in a closet of the home Sept. 24, 1999.

Bridget Kawamoto returned home with her three children that evening and was in the shower when her husband attacked and stabbed her several times.

A Maui Circuit Court jury found him guilty of second-degree murder Aug. 31. He also was convicted of first-degree terroristic threatening of his stepdaughter, abuse of a household member, and violating the temporary restraining order.