ELLSWORTH – The grandmother who was the victim of a robbery in January 2005 gave tearful testimony in Hancock County Superior Court on Tuesday.

“I thought I was going to die,” she said during the joint trial of her grandson Stephen Robbins and his wife, Juanita S. Mullins.

The two stand accused of stealing a safe that contained an estimated $40,000 from his grandmother’s home after they put a pillowcase over her head, handcuffed her and bound her legs with a telephone cord.

Robbins, 39, and Mullins, 36, are each charged with robbery, burglary, two counts of theft, assault, kidnapping and obstructing the report of a crime in the incident that occurred in the early-morning hours of Jan. 22, 2005.

“I woke up with a pillow in my face. I thought I was dreaming,” said the victim, who was 74 at the time of the incident. “I was petrified.”

She said the intruders, whom she was never able to positively identify, eventually let her sit up in her bed while they looked for the safe. She had to ask them to let her use her nearby oxygen tank because she had asthma and was unable to breathe, she said.

The victim testified that the intruders threatened to kill her Chihuahua if she didn’t tell them the combination to the safe. She said she begged them not to kill the dog and told them she didn’t know the safe’s combination.

She said that only one of the intruders spoke and that it was a man’s voice, but not the voice of her grandson.

The stolen safe contained $40,000 of the victim’s money and also money from her business, Haslem Septic Service, of which she is part owner with her other grandson, Bobby Merchant of Lamoine.

Also testifying Tuesday was Dan Jensen, custodian of records for Nextel. Jensen said he examined Robbins’ cell phone records and saw no documentation showing the accused couple was any farther north or east than western Massachusetts the night of the incident.

Detective Steve McFarland of the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office also began his testimony, which will continue today.

The trial began Monday and is expected to last through the week.

The trial was delayed in May when a judge ruled that an impartial jury could not be seated at that time, and before that, more than 700 pages of discovery evidence had to be considered.

From the beginning, detectives suspected that those responsible for the break-in and robbery had specific knowledge of the safe contents, according to court documents.

According to the documents, Robbins and Mullins were arrested in October 2005 after a lengthy investigation revealed a money trail that showed the couple had an overdrawn checking account one day and were buying a $15,000 automobile with cash the next.

Court documents also allege that Robbins and Mullins offered conflicting accounts of where they were and what they were doing the night of the robbery.

Both have been free on bail since shortly after their arrest in 2005.

mdabrieo@bangordailynews.net

6640524