LIMA — A prosecutor told jurors Tuesday the former boyfriend of a woman violently raped her and nearly choked her to death.
“He chokes her with his arm around her neck. Chokes her to the point she loses consciousness and she’s bleeding from her nose. She’s gasping for air. She’s trying to break free,” Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Terri Kohlrieser said.
Kohlrieser’s remarks came during her opening statement at the trial against 33-year-old Brooks Howton. Howton is charged with aggravated burglary, felonious assault, two counts of rape, and kidnapping in the incident Aug. 7 inside a home on South Main Street.
The two were seeing each other and were fairly serious. The couple had sex on a regular basis, Kohlrieser said.
But Howton arrived at the victim’s home on Aug. 7 smelling of alcohol and accusing her of cheating on him. He pushes her down on a bed, does not let her up and rapes her, Kohlrieser said.
“You will hear how she clearly had no interest in that,” Kohlrieser said.
After he’s done, Howton continues to follow her around her home. She just wants him to leave. He grabs her and begins choking her to the point she loses consciousness, Kohlrieser said.
A short time later, after she regained consciousness, Howton makes the woman clean blood off his shoes and wash bedding with blood stains. He begins asking her forgiveness. She told him she didn’t think she could forgive him for what he just did, Kohlrieser said.
Howton then tells her to take off her clothes, Kohlrieser said.
“She tells him no. Stop. She’s crying. He does it anyway,” she said.
A short time later she tells Howton she has to use the bathroom. She climbs out the window and runs to a neighbor’s house for help. Police arrive and arrest Howton, Kohlrieser said.
Kohlrieser told jurors to pay attention to the victim’s testimony and the evidence. She said the evidence will confirm the victim’s testimony. She also said Howton tells different stories to a detective.
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