Testimony got underway Tuesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court in the trial of Lima resident Jacquavious Cartwright, charged with felonious assault and kidnapping for assaulting his former girlfriend and holding her against her will.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA —The alleged victim of what she said were repeated assaults at the hands of a Lima man during a days-long incident last summer took the witness stand Tuesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court and described for jurors the horrors she claims she endured.
Van Wert resident Lane Riley sobbed frequently throughout her testimony as she described how her then-boyfriend, Jacquavious Cartwright, repeatedly beat her, drug her around by her hair, struck her with a closed fist “too many times to count” and twice fired a handgun in her direction after striking her in the face with it.
The abuse, Riley told jurors, began in the early-morning hours of Aug. 19 and continued for three days after Cartwright accused her of being unfaithful in their relationship.
Riley said she managed to slip away from Cartwright and went to a local hospital for treatment after the first round of attacks. While en route to the hospital, she testified, Cartwright called her, apologized and said it would never happen again. Riley fabricated a story for hospital personnel, telling them she fell down stairs after attempting to separate siblings who were fighting.
“I was scared. I wanted to protect him and I didn’t want him to get in trouble,” Riley told Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Everhart when he asked why she lied.
“I went back to (Cartwright’s) house because I believed his apology and that he wouldn’t do it again,” she said.
But the abuse continued. The following day the Lima man again accused her of cheating and the argument turned physical once more, she testified.
“He was punching me, kicking me. He stomped on my ribs and punched me everywhere. It went on for hours,” Riley testified, adding that Cartwright had taken her car keys, phone and wallet away from her.
The abuse continued for a third day, she said, after Cartwright repeatedly stopped her from leaving his home on South Union Street in Lima.
“He said he was going to kill me. He had a gun in his hand and was waving it in my face. I thought I was about to die,” Riley said, sobbing uncontrollably. “I thought I’d never see my kids or grandkids again. He said he was going to send me home in a body bag.”
The woman said she was finally able to escape Cartwright’s grasp by regaining control of her phone and texting her mother, asking her to call the police.
Cartwright, 35, was indicted by an Allen County grand jury on charges of felonious assault and kidnapping, felonies of the second- and third-degree, respectively. He is also charged with the illegal cultivation of marijuana and the possession of cocaine, fifth-degree felonies.
His trial will continue Wednesday morning in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
