Man gets five-year sentence for plunging woman’s face in toilet

The Superior Court has imposed a five-year sentence on a man who pleaded guilty to plunging the face of his former girlfriend down a toilet in a fit of rage.

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho sentenced Joseph Seman last week to five years’ imprisonment following his change of plea hearing where he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault following an incident where he plunged his ex-girlfriend’s face on their toilet.

However, the court ordered that only the first three years of Seman’s sentence is to be served. The remaining two years will hang over Seman’s head and may be imposed in whole or in part if he violates any law or Office of the Adult Probation rules. Seman was given credit for 15 days of time served.

Following his sentencing hearing, Camacho directed the CNMI Marshals to remand Seman back to the custody of the Department of Corrections to begin his sentence.

As part of Seman’s judgment and commitment order, he will be placed on supervised probation for five years and be made to pay a $140 probation fee each year for five years after completing his sentence.

Seman was also ordered to pay restitution to the victim for her hospital bills due to the injuries she sustained in the amount of $2,737.88.

The defendant was also ordered to stay away from the victim during his probation.

Seman, 32, has allegedly been beating his girlfriend for some time and had attempted to flush her head in their toilet because she made a noise while getting out of bed to use the restroom, which woke him up.

Initially, Seman was charged with two counts of assault and battery, aggravated assault, and strangulation.

In exchange for Seman pleading guilty to aggravated assault, the Office of the Attorney General dismissed the remaining charges.

According to the victim, Seman had physically abused her several times in the past but it was after an incident on April 3, 2022, when Seman punched her face at about 5pm and told her that if she ever tells anyone about the abuse, he’d kill her, when she reported the abuse.

On April 5, investigators met with the victim again for a follow-up interview where they learned more about Seman’s alleged abuse. The most recent incident allegedly happened on March 29, prior to the victim calling the police.

The victim said she had woken up to use the restroom and her bedroom door made a squeaky noise, causing to wake Seman up. Seman angrily told her that she shouldn’t be making a noise. Then, while the victim was using the toilet, Seman allegedly entered the restroom and slapped her on the head, yanked her hair, and used both his hands to push off the toilet.

The victim said Seman then instructed her to put her face in the toilet and when she did so, Seman flushed the toilet twice before threatening to kill her and that he would send the video to her mother.