PARIS — An Andover man has been charged with attacking a woman with broken glass and hitting her repeatedly after she told him she was pregnant, according to police.
Bail was set at $5,000 cash for Joseph Marston, 34, at his arraignment Monday in 11th District Court. He is was charged with Class B aggravated assault, Class D domestic violence assault, Class D domestic violence terrorizing, and Class D criminal mischief.
Conviction of a Class B crime carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of $20,000. A Class D crime is punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 and less than one year in jail.
Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Winter told Justice Richard Mulhern that bail conditions include no contact with the woman, no use or possession of drugs or alcohol, submitting to random search and testing and no possession of dangerous weapons.
Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Aylward wrote in an affidavit that he responded to a domestic incident at a home in Dixfield at 12:33 a.m. Saturday.
Mexico police officer Dean Benson also responded, along with Med-Care Ambulance Service.
The woman told Aylward that Marston had assaulted her with broken pieces of glass from a picture, and hit her in the face and head with his fists. She said she was bleeding from her arms and needed stitches, according to the affidavit.
“Officer Benson explained how Marston destroyed the inside of the residence, throwing multiple items around and assaulting (the woman),” Aylward wrote. “I learned that Marston told the woman several times that he wanted to kill her.”
Aylward wrote that he found several broken bottles of alcohol and blood on the walls of the staircase on the house.
When he visited the woman in the hospital, he found multiple bruises on her arms and head, scratch marks down the sides of her arms, face, chin, neck and upper chest, Aylward wrote.
The woman told him she had been folding laundry when Marston came up behind her, grabbed her by the back of the neck and pinned her face down, causing her to nearly lose consciousness. She said she had learned she was pregnant earlier that day and had shared the information with Marston, according to the affidavit.
“(The woman) believed that (the information) could have contributed to the behavior of Marston,” Aylward wrote, adding that Marston had reportedly been intoxicated during the assault.
Marston left the house after the woman threatened to pepper spray him, Aylward wrote. The following morning, Aylward Deputy Stephen Witham and Deputy Michael Fitzmorris went to Marston’s house in Andover.
“He denied assaulting the (woman) without being asked if had assaulted her,” Aylward wrote.
Marston was arrested and taken to the Oxford County Jail in Paris. A conference on his case is scheduled March 1.
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