City man charged with domestic kidnapping
WOONSOCKET – A city man is held at the state prison after police arrested him Friday in connection with a brutal attack on his ex-girlfriend – allegedly motivated by jealousy.
Aaron Michael Botelho, 25, is charged with domestic assault by strangulation and domestic kidnapping – both felonies – plus misdemeanor domestic assault, refusal to relinquish a telephone and domestic vandalism. Police say Botelho intermittently attacked the 26-year-old victim over the course of an hour in an apartment at 147 Division St. after he came home drunk and found messages exchanged between his ex and her new boyfriend on her cell phone. Police reports describe Botelho as
the “ex-boyfriend and current roommate” of the victim, saying the two continue to share an apartment even though they broke off a six-year relationship months ago.
At about 2 a.m. Friday, police say the victim was in bed sleeping when Botelho woke her up by repeatedly smashing her cell phone against her head. Botelho attempted to justify his actions, explaining he was “still having a hard time letting go of her and wasn’t accepting of her dating anyone,” Patrol Officer Norman G. Guilbert said.
Putting aside the cell phone as a weapon, Botelho allegedly switched to his fists, striking the victim in the face “numerous times, over and over,” Guilbert said.
At one point, Botelho began shoving her around the apartment and cornered her in the bathroom, where he began choking her to the point where she could not breathe. With his hands still clasped around her neck, he lifted her entire body off the ground.
“The abuse took place over the course of an hour,” according to Guilbert, who reported that the victim told him that “in between receiving punches to the face, Botelho would calm down and try to talk to her about everything like nothing had happened. Only when she would repeatedly tell him to leave, he would fire back up again and assault her further.”
When the victim threatened to call the police, Botelho allegedly took her phone from her and “smashed it to pieces.” He also took away the keys to her car and would not let her go near them, the police say.
The attack ended as abruptly as it began when, inexplicably, Botelho “just stopped,” according to Guilbert. When Botelho went outside and began pacing around his black Lexus, the victim saw an opportunity to make a run for it.
She retrieved her now-unguarded car keys and drove to a friend’s house. She showed up at police headquarters about two hours after the attack with the evidence of the assault etched in bruises on her face. Police said she was suffering from “severe swelling” and a “blackening eye,” but refused medical attention.
Meanwhile, police began searching for Botelho, locating him shortly before 9 a.m. at the same apartment where the assault allegedly took place. When officers arrived, they weren’t sure he was inside, but neighbors confirmed Botelho was in the apartment and the police could hear him talking on a cell phone from the hall.
But Botelho allegedly refused to come to the door, so they forced it open. Even after police were inside, however, they didn’t initially see him anywhere.
They eventually found him hiding behind a bedroom door, according to police.
During a preliminary appearance in Sixth District Court later Friday, a judge set bail on the charges at $30,000 with surety pending another hearing on March 9.
However, Botelho was also ordered held without bail as a possible violator of his probation on a 2016 Superior Court conviction for possession of a controlled substance. He was due for a hearing on that charge yesterday afternoon, but the results were not available at press time.