Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The defendant and accuser had been in a sexual
relationship for six months, an assistant prosecutor said.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN — Testimony is under way in the rape, kidnapping and theft trial of a 56-year-old Warren Township man accused of threatening a Warren woman with an icepick before forcing her to engage in sexual activity.
The woman escaped from him by saying she was going upstairs to check on her 3-year-old daughter, an assistant prosecutor said during opening statements Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The woman tried to barricade herself inside a bedroom by placing a television set behind the door, he said.
But defendant Richard Hadden started beating down the door, so she grabbed her daughter and jumped, naked, out a second-story window and fled to a nearby house, said Mike Burnett, an assistant county prosecutor.
Burnett said Hadden and the woman had been having a sexual relationship for about six months before the alleged rape and kidnapping May 2, 2006.
The evening began with card playing, drinking and marijuana smoking at the woman’s South Street home, Burnett said. Several people were there for a while, but eventually it was just Hadden and the woman, Burnett said.
Hadden asked to stay with the woman that night, but she refused, saying Hadden had become too possessive, Burnett said. The woman drove Hadden to his home on Dover Street Southwest, but the two returned to her home to look for Hadden’s keys, Burnett said.
That’s when Hadden threatened her with an icepick and forced her to engage in sexual activity inside her house, Burnett said.
Atty. John Fowler, representing Hadden, said the woman’s version of events has changed three or four times since she first told it to police, while Hadden’s story “never changed.”
Two Warren police officers testified Tuesday. Detective Brian Holmes said he came to a home a short distance away from the accuser’s home at about 3 a.m. The woman was there in a robe, he said, afraid to return to her home for fear of Hadden.
Holmes drove the woman back to her house, where she discovered that Hadden and her van were gone, Holmes said. The van was later found at Shadi Food Market on Todd Avenue Southwest, he said.
Warren Patrolman Jeff Miller testified to finding an icepick, a pair of men’s underwear and eyeglasses in the living room of the home. The woman said they all belonged to Hadden, Miller said.
If convicted on the rape, kidnapping and grand theft of a motor vehicle charges, Hadden faces up to 211⁄2 years in prison.
runyan@vindy.com