Lynn man held without bail for domestic assault

LYNN – A judge ordered a city man held without bail Thursday after a woman told police the defendant beat her because she spoke with another man at the mall.But the defendant told police the alleged victim was drunk and made up the accusation because he wouldn’t let her drive home.Bernard Gadson, 24, of 65 Gardiner St., pleaded not guilty Thursday in Lynn District Court to assault and battery on a family/household member.Police reported responding to the Gardiner Street address twice last Wednesday night on reports of disturbances. At 9:47 p.m., police met with Gadson and another woman at the address who reported there was no problem, and officers noted no sign of a disturbance, Lynn Police Officer James Daley wrote in a report. Police returned about an hour later and reported finding the alleged victim barefoot, crying, with her luggage in the driveway and seemingly intoxicated.The alleged victim said Gadson had accused her of flirting with another man at the mall and then punched her in the stomach several times and on her ribs, which she had broken in a recent car accident, police reported.Police noted redness to the alleged victim’s torso and she complained of some pain but declined medical attention.Gadson said the alleged victim was drunk, and they had argued after he wouldn’t let her drive home from the mall.”He said she became very crazy and threatened to call police and report he had hit her,” police said.Police said Gadson said he hadn’t reported this earlier to police because he wanted the alleged victim to leave, and she seemed to be doing so.The woman who had spoken with police when they first visited the scene reported hearing an argument but no physical assault.Essex Assistant District Attorney Katelyn Giliberti requested Gadson be held pending a dangerousness hearing when the alleged victim could testify.Defense attorney Arthur Carakatsane challenged probable cause for the hearing, however, saying the alleged victim was – by all accounts – extremely drunk at the scene, making her reliability “minimal at best.”Judge Joseph Jennings found probable cause for the hearing and ordered the defendant held without bail pending a hearing on Oct. 2.