Woman testifies of rape, beating at jury trial

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BANGOR – Jurors in Penobscot County Superior Court saw color photographs of a badly beaten Old Town woman Tuesday during the opening day of the trial of a 36-year-old Milford man accused of beating and raping her last spring.

Barry Bard is facing seven felony charges in connection with the April 16 attack – aggravated assault, two counts of gross sexual assault, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, assault, criminal threatening, and violation of a condition of release. The most serious charge carries a possibility of 20 years in prison.

Bard has been incarcerated since his arrest. He is being held at Penobscot County Jail.

The 40-year-old victim testified for much of the day Monday, recounting for jurors the specifics of the alleged assault.

She said Bard hit and kicked her for hours, made her shower to wash away the blood, then raped her while holding a steak knife to the back of her head.

The two had had a relationship for about four months, and when he was arrested a couple of days after the alleged assault, Bard allegedly told police, “My girlfriends never refuse to have sex with me” and “You can’t rape your girlfriend.”

Earlier in the day, Justice Andrew Mead heard arguments from the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office and Bard’s attorney, Brad McDonald, about whether the victim’s criminal background should be allowed into evidence.

Mead ruled that McDonald could question the victim about her criminal background and enter it into evidence. That background includes several convictions of theft, forgery, and acquiring theft by deception.

Rules of law allow for the criminal record of witnesses to be allowed under limited circumstances, if those crimes have bearing on the defense. In this case, the defense is questioning the victim’s credibility and trustworthiness. Mead found that the crimes for which she was convicted were all relative to her credibility and therefore were “fair game” for the defense.

Mead said he probably would be inclined not to allow jurors to hear about some of Bard’s criminal record because of its violent nature.

The disclosure of those crimes might prejudice the jury. Mead has not officially ruled on whether Bard’s record will be allowed into evidence and will do so if and when Bard decides to testify.

Under Maine rules of court, judges must weigh the prejudicial damage to the defendant that such information would pose, against the probative value of such information.

Bard has convictions for robbery, assault and assault on a police officer. He also has drunken driving convictions.

The victim testified that she and Bard had received a ride home from the Tavern, a Bangor lounge, early Sunday morning, April 16. She said that when they arrived inside her Old Town apartment, Bard called her name, “and I turned around and he hit me over the right eye.”

“My eye was bleeding hard and he kept hitting me and beating me and kicking me and saying he was going to kill me,” she testified.

The woman said Bard threatened to throw her into the Penobscot River behind her home.

“At one point he got me out of the door. I got away and ran back into the apartment. I just kept thinking that I didn’t have anything to hold onto out there and inside I did, and I’d rather have him beat me than throw me in the river,” she testified.

At one point, the woman ran to a neighbor’s apartment and banged on the door, but no one was home. She said Bard then dragged her by her hair back into her apartment. Assistant District Attorney Alice Clifford said blood was found on the neighbor’s window.

Bard allegedly pulled the phone out of the wall. After the beating, the victim said, she was in the shower and considered jumping from the apartment’s second-story window.

“I knew I would probably break my legs or maybe my back if I jumped. But I was thinking I’d rather break my legs and crawl and hide than be beaten to death. Then he yelled my name and I got scared and got back in the shower,” she testified.

After the alleged rape, the woman told jurors, she remembered seeing a daytime talk show about women who had survived violent attacks by coddling the assailant.

“I told him I loved him and it wasn’t his fault and that I wouldn’t tell anyone,” she said.

Eventually Bard fell asleep with his arm around her, but he woke every time she moved, she said. Eventually, she also fell asleep, but convinced him the next morning to let her go to the hospital.

She said the apartment was covered with blood and that Bard made her wipe up blood from the walls. There was still a lot of blood left behind, however, and prosecutors plan to admit pictures of the blood-spattered apartment into evidence.

She testified that Bard told her to tell doctors and police that she was “jumped” from behind when she was leaving the Tavern the night before. That is what she initially told police and doctors.

The next day, however, the pain was worse in her jaw and head and she again sought medical attention. This time, her sister drove her to the hospital and she told her sister the truth, she said.

The sister reported the incident to the Old Town police.

Bard’s attorney spent much of the day attacking the victim’s credibility and suggesting that the reason she sought additional medical attention was in order to feed her addiction to narcotic drugs.

The woman said on the stand that she initially lied about the attack because she was afraid of Bard, but realized after speaking to her sister that she had to tell the truth to police.

Testimony will resume Wednesday.