Westport psychiatric facility sex assault trial opens

STAMFORD — The trial of a Bridgeport man accused of sexually assaulting a fellow patient at a Westport psychiatric facility in 2016 began Wednesday with emotional testimony from the alleged victim in the case.

The now 26-year-old woman, whose name has been withheld to protect her identity, recounted the events of April 23, 2016, as she stared straight ahead, rarely looking in the direction of Mark DiPietro, the man she accused of sexual assault.

The woman, who was 18 at the time, said the alleged incident started as an innocent conversation about poetry with DiPietro, who was a fellow patient at the St. Vincent’s Behavioral Health Services campus in Westport.

Video played during Wednesday’s proceedings showed the two sitting together outside of DiPietro’s room for several minutes that day before the two were seen going inside of his room.

“He wanted to show me something. He brought me into his room to the bathroom and pulled down his pants,” the woman said, reading a letter she had sent to the police.

The woman said DiPietro then forced her to perform a sex act.

“During that time, I just kept saying I didn’t want to do this,” she told jurors.

The video obtained from the facility later shows DiPietro and the woman coming back out of the room, where they again sat together for a little while.

The woman told Assistant State’s Attorney Margaret Moscati that she didn’t know why she sat with DiPietro afterward, saying only that she “felt weak, shocked.”

After some time, the woman is seen walking back to her room. Later that day, she reportedly told a nurse about the alleged sexual assault.

“I know that I said no, and that was wrong,” the woman added.

During cross examination, criminal defense attorney Frank Bevilacqua asked the witness if she came forward with her account of events because, if she was caught having sex at the facility, then she could “lose privileges.”

The exchange between Bevilacqua and the woman at times grew testy, at one point leading to a recess for the woman to compose herself. At other points she grew visibly angry at Bevilacqua’s questions.

Bevilacqua said the woman appeared normal in the video in the minutes after the alleged sexual assault, as she sat side-by-side with DiPietro for several minutes.

Bevilacqua also introduced a poem written by the woman on that same day, before the alleged incident occurred. The poem centered around a man “with crystal blue eyes,” similar to DiPietro’s, and spoke of seduction. The woman claimed, however, that the poem was not about DiPietro.

DiPietro was arrested in August 2016 on charges of first-degree and fourth-degree sexual assault following an investigation that began several months earlier.

According to his fourpage arrest affidavit, Westport police were called to the psychiatric hospital when the female patient told a nurse about the alleged assault.

The woman reportedly told police she tried to get away from DiPietro, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he would not let her go.

DiPietro denied doing anything to the woman and at first claimed to police that he did not know her, according to reports. But police obtained the video showing the two sitting in the hallway of the hospital before he allegedly grabbed the woman by the wrist and pulled her into his room, the affidavit said.

DiPietro’s case sat dormant for years after he was repeatedly found unfit to stand trial.

The trial continued Thursday with testimony from Westport police and staffers from the St. Vincent’s Behavioral Health Services campus in Westport.