WAILUKU - Bail was set at $56,000 for a man charged with kidnapping and assaulting and strangling his girlfriend in a vehicle where they had been living.
Kuhio Vinuya, 36, was arrested at about 5 p.m. Saturday in Lahaina, after an all-points bulletin had been issued for him. He was charged with second-degree assault, felony abuse by strangulation and kidnapping.
Before 4 p.m. Friday, Vinuya and the 25-year-old woman had argued, and he threatened her and had her drive to Kahului before she stopped the vehicle in the industrial area and got out, police said. She tried to call for help but he grabbed her hair and pulled her back into the vehicle, telling her to keep driving in the Kahului area, police said.
Vinuya told the woman to pull over before he assaulted her and wrapped his hands around her neck, impeding her breathing, police said. She was able to escape and went to a nearby residence to call for help.
The woman reported pain to her ear, rib cage and head and was taken by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with a fractured nasal bone, police said.
Vinuya and the victim had been living together in the vehicle for a couple of months, police said.
