Kidnaper Gets 1-Year Jail Sentence

A man who kidnaped his estranged common-law wife and spent a week driving her through several Western states in an attempt to renew the relationship was sentenced Tuesday to serve a year in county jail.

Following the terms of a plea agreement, Torrance Superior Court Judge Francis J. Hourigan also sentenced Vai Sili Fetuli, 34, to serve three years’ probation after he is released. Fetuli also must seek domestic violence counseling.

Fetuli pleaded guilty last month to a single count of kidnaping for forcing Mari Jane Fetuli, 29, into her car at knifepoint as she left Adray’s, the Torrance store where she works, to run an errand about 1 p.m. Jan. 16.

When she failed to return, Fetuli’s co-workers--who knew that her husband had been harassing her at work--contacted police.

On Jan. 23, the Fetulis returned to Torrance, where they checked into a motel room. Under the pretense of going to get their 3-year-old daughter to join them, Mari Jane Fetuli fled the room about 3 a.m. and returned to her San Pedro home, where she called police.

Family members told police that Fetuli had been abducted by her estranged husband on another occasion last fall, when he forced her to travel to Nevada with him. He returned her, unharmed, to her mother’s home in San Pedro about 12 hours later. The family did not report the incident to police.