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Man gets 4-year term for attack on girlfriend
YOUNGSTOWN
A city man convicted of attacking and cutting his girlfriend will spend four years behind bars, but that is only half the time prosecutors wanted to see him locked up.
Mateen Abdullah appeared this week before Judge Lou D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for sentencing on one count of felonious assault. He previously was convicted of the charge after a jury trial.
Judge D’Apolito sentenced Abdullah, 47, to four years in prison, alcohol-abuse treatment and three years’ probation upon his release from prison. He will be given credit for the 234 days he has spent in the county jail.
Abdullah had been offered a five-year plea deal before going forward with a jury trial, but he refused that offer.
Natasha Frenchko, an assistant county prosecutor, said the charges stem from an argument Abdullah had with his girlfriend.
The couple ultimately took the altercation outside, where Abdullah cut the woman with a box cutter and ran. He was arrested a short time later carrying the box cutter.
The prosecutor’s office wanted Abdullah to serve the full eight-year sentence allowable under Ohio law. Frenchko said he has refused to take responsibility for the crime, thus forcing witnesses to testify in open court.
She also said his past criminal record show him to be a danger to society.
Frenchko said Abdullah has two criminal convictions for armed robbery and two criminal convictions for sexual battery. He also is required to register as a sex offender.
Frenchko said Abdullah goes by multiple aliases, and there were notable marks on the body of the victim in the most recent assault case.
“The defendant is violent and dangerous and has no place in society,” she said. “The recommendation is that he be sentenced to the maximum of eight years.”
Atty. John Juhasz, representing Abdullah, said all his client’s criminal problems have been alcohol- induced.
He asked the judge to impose a minimal sentence, saying his client would be better served with counseling and alcohol treatment.
Judge D’Apolito said he had to take into account the fact that the victim had only a small cut to the thumb that required minimal medical treatment. He also said it must be noted the victim testified in favor of Abdullah.