No bail for Lynn man charged with abuse

LYNN – A judge ordered a city man held without bail after a prosecutor described the defendant’s history of alleged abuse against his wife despite previous dismissed charges including attempted murder. Most recently, the alleged victim told police the defendant beat her because she left her kids at the nearby park with a friend while she returned home to use the bathroom.”This is clearly a toxic relationship,” Assistant District Attorney Katelyn Giliberti said in Lynn District Court Thursday. “And this toxic relationship has continued since the 2009 case and attempted-murder charge.”Chukwuma Uchendu, 31, of 25 South St. #307, was arrested and charged with assault and battery; at 10:09 p.m. Wednesday.He was arraigned on the charge in Lynn District Court Thursday and pleaded not guilty.Police responded to a report of a past assault and met the alleged victim – who had minor swelling on her forehead – and the woman’s friend, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Gregory Brotherton.The alleged victim told police she and her friend had been at the park Wednesday afternoon and the alleged victim had asked the friend to watch her kids while she went to use the bathroom.Uchendu was at home and, angry she had left the children, punched the alleged victim twice in the head, police said. The alleged victim told police Uchendu had abused her for years, but she was too afraid to follow through on charges, according to the report.Giliberti requested Uchendu be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing, although she said the defendant would not be testifying in that hearing. Judge Joseph Jennings approved the request over the objections of court-appointed defense attorney Nate Goldstein.That afternoon at the hearing, Goldstein objected to Giliberti submitting three police reports – two from two prior domestic incidents and one from the new case – as evidence for the dangerousness hearing. He said the evidence against his client was hearsay because the alleged victim would not testify and there were no independent witnesses to the alleged incidents. He also said police described the injuries from the most recent alleged event as minor. Most notably, however, he noted that the prior cases had been dismissed.”The Commonwealth wants to show Mr. Uchenda is a danger based on dismissals,” Goldstein said.But Giliberti said the alleged victim was too scared to testify now and had been too scared to testify in the prior cases.”She did not want to testify in front of the defendant today, she was very reluctant even to go into court for a restraining order,” Giliberti said. Jennings had granted the restraining order earlier in court when Uchendu’s case was called.Noting the prior cases involved the same alleged victim, Jennings allowed Giliberti to discuss the prior cases.In March 2007, police responded to a S. Common Street apartment where the alleged victim said she had gone to bring Uchendu lunch at his job, but found he was not there, Giliberti said. She told the court the alleged victim called Uchendu’s cellphone, wondering where he was, and Uchendu returned to the apartment enraged that she had gone to his work. He allegedly began punching her in the face and broke the alleged victim’s cellphone to prevent her from calling police.Uchendu was charged with domestic assault and battery and property damage to intimidate. The case was continued without a finding.In Aug. 2009, the alleged victim and a friend went to the Lynn Police Station and told officers that Uchendu had punched her repeatedly and then kicked her in the head, face and torso after she fell to the ground, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer John Mackin. The alleged victim said Uchendu thought she had looked at his cell phone trying to find old messages, according to the report. Police also reported the alleged victim said Uchendu stabbed her in the arm in April 2007 – leaving her with a 3-inch scar – and had tried to choke her with a nylon rope in Aug. 2008 when