Bernice Ave. man charged with knife attack on girlfriend
WOONSOCKET –A woman with fresh bruises and a knife wound on her body fled her apartment half-clothed to find refuge at a neighbor’s house and call for help, leading to the arrest of her boyfriend on a string of domestic violence charges moments later.
Ahkiem Nelson, 38, of 54 Bernice Ave., was charged Wednesday morning with domestic assault with a deadly weapon, a knife; domestic assault and battery; obstructing police; domestic disorderly conduct; and domestic vandalism. He was also wanted on two warrants stemming from prior charges of domestic violence.
After hearing from the victim, police said they encountered Nelson on Bernice Avenue shortly before 7 a.m. In possession of an open bottle of vodka, he allegedly ducked into the
driveway of a residence where he doesn’t live and gave police a false name when they asked him to identify himself.
Police located the victim, a 31-year-old woman, at the neighbor’s house. She told officers she fled the apartment in fear of her life, wearing nothing more than a man’s shirt and carrying a knife for self defense. The neighbor told police he took the woman in for her own safety, gave
her some additional clothing and put the knife in a safe place.
She later escorted police to her apartment, where the assault allegedly took place in the bedroom. She told officers Nelson began “freaking out” after smoking crack cocaine, at which point he began striking her about the head and arms with his hands and smashing her personal belongings. Police noticed what they initially thought was a scratch on her neck and chest, but the woman insisted the wound was caused by a knife and that Nelson was re-
sponsible for it.
Police said they were unable to determine whether they knife the victim carried to her neighbor’s house was the same one Nelson allegedly used.
Officers described the woman’s demeanor as incoherent and erratic when they first encountered her. One policeman said she struggled to provide details of the assault because she feared Nelson would be held accountable.
“I met with a female subject...dressed in oversized men’s clothing (who was) visibly upset and had red-
ness and bruising on her face and around her eyes,” Officer Nicholas Maglio reported. The woman “stated that she had just run out of their shared residence at 54 Bernice Ave. without any clothes and a knife because she was scared that Ahkiem was going to kill her. She stated she took the knife for self defense and ran outside without any clothes looking for help when she was met by her neighbor who allowed her to come into his home.”
There were signs of a violent outburst in the bedroom where the assault took place,
including a broken flat-screen TV and a shattered iPad. There was also a hole in the wall, which was caused by Nelson “throwing something at it,” the woman told police.
The victim said she had been in a relationship with Nelson for about two years and that he had abused her in the past.
In addition to the new charges, Nelson was wanted on two active bench warrants at the time of his arrest, including one issued by the Superior Court for his failure to appear for a hearing tied to a 2016 charge of domestic
strangulation. Another was a Sixth District Court warrant for failure to appear for a separate hearing stemming from a 2018 count of misdemeanor domestic assault.
The warrants were quashed after his arrest, but Nelson was ordered held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions for a violation hearing on Feb. 21, according to the judiciary’s web site.
Despite her injuries, police said the victim declined medical attention.