Husband ‘forced’ his wife to behead her lover in New Hampshire

Warning: graphic content

A New Hampshire woman whose husband killed her lover and forced her to behead him must remain behind bars until her trial, a judge ruled Monday.

Coos County Superior Court Judge Peter Bornstein denied the request for bail and sided with prosecutors, who acknowledged that the woman was a victim of domestic violence, but still should have done more to help. alert authorities to the murder.

The woman’s husband is accused of luring 25-year-old Jonathan Amerault to a park on September 19, kidnapping him and then shooting him to death in a car. He is also charged with hiding the body at a camp in northern New Hampshire.

In October he was charged with capital murder and with beating and threatening his wife, who has been accused of falsifying evidence. She does not face any charges directly related to the murder of Amerault. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The Associated Press is not naming the couple because doing so could identify the woman, who it says suffered extreme abuse.

“The state has established with clear and convincing evidence that the defendant’s release would pose a danger to the public,” Bornstein said. “I agree with the state’s characterization that its dangerousness is demonstrated by the series of decisions it made over a considerable amount of time and over considerable distances to destroy evidence and not make legitimate alternative decisions that the state identified.”

The wife told police that she was forced to drive Amerault’s car, which contained her body, to the camp, while her husband was driving another vehicle. At the camp, the woman said her husband ordered her to cut off Amerault’s head so that her body could not be identified by dental records, bury it and wrap the rest of the body in a tarp. He later left her there to dispose of the body and returned home, according to documents.

The woman’s attorney, Richard Guerriero, insisted she posed no danger if she was released and said her actions should be considered in light of the abuse she suffered and the coercion she was subjected to at the time of the murder. After her husband found out about her affair, she told authorities that he repeatedly assaulted her, put a gun to her mouth and strangled her until she passed out.

“You have seen the images that I have put in my motion,” Guerriero told the court. “Both eyes, hit on the head with her nose bleeding heavily and her head throbbing. The state would expect her to be thinking rationally at the time. I would suggest that it is unreasonable or fair to wait under these circumstances.”

Assistant Attorney General Scott Chase said the state’s opposition to granting the woman bail stemmed from what he claimed was her inaction while traveling between states for hundreds of miles to call for help or alert authorities about the murder.

“He had a car with gas, a cell phone and a loaded gun and he continued on the defendant’s side,” Chase told the court.

“Even when the defendant stopped and poured gas and she was parked on the street in a park, she made absolutely no effort to take alternative legal measures. She was engaged. She was following her husband. She continued to choose his side.” – AP

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – DO YOU NEED HELP?

If it is an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

If you are in danger now:

• Call the police on 111 or ask your friends’ neighbors to call you.
• Run outside and go to where there are other people.
• Yell for help so your neighbors can hear you.
• Take the children with you.
• Don’t stop to buy anything else.
• If you are being abused, remember that it is not your fault. Violence is never okay

Where to go for help or more information:

• Women’s Refuge: the free national crisis line operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – 0800 Refuge or 0800 733 843

• Shine, toll free national helpline from 9 am to 11 pm every day: 0508 744 633

• Not good: information line 0800 456 450

• Shakti: Provides specialized cultural services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800742584

• Ministry of Justice:

• National Network to Stop Violence:

• White Ribbon: With the aim of eliminating violence by men towards women, focusing this year on sexual violence and the issue of consent.

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