The trial of a man charged with breaking into a woman's home and forcibly confining her, sexually assaulting her, choking her, and threatening her and two children resumed briefly in St. John's Friday, with the court hearing from the lead investigator in the case as well as the man's roommate.
Const. Robyn Dunn of the RNC's criminal investigation division testified she had received a report of a break-in with a possible sexual assault at a Mount Pearl home on the evening of Oct. 26 of last year.
She went to the home and found a woman sitting on the living room couch, with visible marks on her throat and chest. The woman seemed "spacey," Dunn testified, and appeared to have a hard time concentrating when she was being questioned.
Dunn said she asked the woman specifically about the alleged sexual assault, knowing evidence would have to be collected quickly, and the woman agreed to go with police to the hospital for a sexual assault exam.
Dunn said she noticed during her walk through the house that a basement window was open, its arm broken.
Benji Barnes, 36, was arrested hours later at the home of another woman, his longtime friend. That woman told the court Barnes had been staying with her for about a week at the time he was arrested.
She said Barnes had come home from work that day and had chatted with her a bit before getting ready to go out. He left between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., and she received texts from him around 10:30 p.m. saying he was on his way home.
The woman said Barnes told her he had gone to see the complainant, whom he knew, but left her place after an argument.
"All I know is what he told me," the woman testified.
When Barnes came home, he seemed "completely normal," she said.
"He smelled a little bit like alcohol, but he wasn't falling over or anything," she told the court. "He didn't seem any different than before."
The woman said she went to bed shortly after Barnes arrived, and was awoken by police officers at her door around 5:30 a.m. They arrested Barnes and took him from the house in handcuffs, she said.
The court heard that swabs collected from the complainant during her hospital exam were tested for DNA, and were found to contain the DNA of an unknown male.
Const. Dunn said she obtained a warrant last week to take a DNA sample from Barnes at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, and it is currently being tested to determine whether or not it's a match to the DNA on the swabs.
The court has yet to hear from the complainant in the case. Barnes' trial will resume March 5.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
