A Nottingham man is charged with beating his ex-girlfriend repeatedly with his fists, a broomstick and a chain, and burning her with a blowtorch during an alleged attack that lasted for several hours.
Paul S. Rathe, 31, is being held without bail at the Rockingham County jail after his arrest on a warrant in Farmington earlier this week.
The charges stem from a violent attack inside his Nottingham apartment on Sept. 22 that sent the alleged victim to the hospital with several injuries.
Authorities said Rathe has a history of incidents involving the woman, who told police that the two had dated on and off for a few years but were no longer together.
In a police affidavit, the alleged victim told police that she went to Rathe’s house to pick up some items and was then assaulted over a nearly 12-hour period. She reported that she was “punched and hit with various items to include a broomstick and a chain over several hours,” police said.
When police spoke with the alleged victim while she was being treated at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, Nottingham officer Michael McNeil reported observing a small bump on her forehead, scratches and bruises covering her forearms, neck and upper chest.
She told police that Rathe locked a deadbolt from inside an apartment where he stays on the property and wouldn’t let her leave.
“She stated he began to hit her with a broom stick which ended up breaking over her. She was forced into a corner of the room on his bed. He continued to hit her and the bed with the broomstick to keep her from moving. She noted that he also used the broken end of the broom stick to poke at her with,” McNeil said in the affidavit.
The alleged victim also told police that she was choked, hit with a four-foot metal chain, and her hair and part of her body were burned with a small blowtorch.
McNeil reported a quarter-sized abrasion on her right collarbone area, which is where she claimed she was burned.
The woman stated that she thought she was going to die and that Rathe told her he was going to kill her and he would “bury her body in the backyard using an excavator on the property,” police said.
“She explained she curled herself up in a ball to protect herself while in the corner. She noted that at one point Paul attempted to tie her up but she fought back and he was unable to do so. She stated that he punched her in the head and body several times with a closed fist. She stated that every time she sniffed/sniffled she was hit. She added that when Paul was speaking to her and she did not maintain eye contact she was hit again,” the affidavit said.
The woman was able to leave the apartment in the morning.
