2 men charged for domestic violence

Two men face criminal charges for allegedly attacking two women in two separate domestic violence cases brought before the Superior Court late last week.

In one of the cases, police charged 31-year-old Raymond K. Sablan with assault, criminal contempt and disturbing the peace for attempting to whip a woman with a belt. Last week, police arrested Sablan, who had also allegedly threatened to confine the woman inside her home.

Police also arrested and charged 26-year-old Michael Lee Agulto Borja with assault and battery and disturbing the peace in the other case, which alleged that he physically abused the woman.

Police detective Christopher Leon Guerrero said Sablan violated a standing court order prohibiting him from threatening or attacking his victim.

Guerrero said Sablan was angry with the victim after being awakened on the night of Aug. 9. Sablan allegedly began yelling at the woman, took his belt from his waist, and swung it toward the victim.

The detective also said Sablan had previously physically abused the woman. The court has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Sablan from getting close to the victim, but Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo later allowed him and the woman to work out their relationship, provided that he does not threaten or attack her.

“At one point, the defendant told the victim that she could not see daylight,” Guerrero said in an affidavit submitted to the court.

Associate Judge Ramona Manglona scheduled Sablan’s arraignment on Aug. 22. The judge set the bail at $2,000 and ordered Sablan to surrender his travel documents to authorities and not leave Saipan.

In the other case, Guerrero said Borja punched his victim in the head twice while he and the woman were on their way to meet a car seller, whom the defendant suspected of having a romantic affair with her, last Aug. 10.

When they went back home by nighttime, Borja allegedly locked the bedroom’s door and refused to let her in so she could get food inside the room for her children. The woman also asked for her car key so she could bring herself and her children to a safer place, but Borja allegedly refused to give it.

The detective said Borja attacked the woman after she called for police assistance. The defendant allegedly tried to break the telephone, pushed the woman down to the floor and held her up facing the wall.

Guerrero said the woman screamed and Borja covered her mouth. When Borja released her, she went to a nearby store and called for police assistance. (John Ravelo)