Man Charged with Attacking, Attempting to Sexually Assault Juvenile in Home Invasion: Middletown Police

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Clinton man is accused of assaulting, strangling and attempting to sexually assault a female juvenile during a home invasion in Middletown, according to police.

Police responded to a Middletown home at about 6:10 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 6 on the report of an assault. The caller told police that a female victim was at her door with a bloody nose, saying that someone had entered her residence and assaulted her, according to the police report.

The suspect was not known to the victim and she wasn’t sure if he was still inside her home.

Responding officers met with the victim, who was described in the report as “hysterical.” The victim, who police said is a juvenile (her age wasn’t released), was able to provide the officers with a clothing description of the suspect.

The suspect was located two streets up from the victim’s home and was detained by police.

The victim positively identified the suspect, Jean-Baptiste Berthony, as her assailant, according to police.

The victim told police that Berthony entered her residence through the front door unannounced and asked for a female by name. The victim told Berthony that the woman he was asking for didn’t live there and she asked him to leave.

Berthony is then accused of forcing the victim into a room and knocking her to the ground, according to the police report.

He then proceeded to “smash” the victim’s head into the ground and hit her in the face about eight times, according to police.

“The accused then placed both hands around the victim’s neck to the point she couldn’t breathe,” police wrote in the report. “The accused attempted to try and remove the victim’s pants but was unsuccessful. The victim was able to escape the accused and ran for help out of the residence.”

The victim was transported to Middlesex Hospital for evaluation.

Berthony, 24, of Clomana Street in Clinton, was arrested on charges of home invasion, attempt to commit first-degree sexual assault, second-degree strangulation, first-degree criminal trespass, third-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping and first-degree burglary.

He was held on a $500,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in Middlesex Superior Court on Monday, Jan. 9, according to police.

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