Justin Bonner, the Stratford man accused of kidnapping and beating a Cumberland Farms clerk in Shelton last summer, has also been charged with raping the woman.
Prosecutors charged Bonner with first-degree aggravated sexual assault in June — about a year after the woman was attacked.
Authorities were waiting on DNA results before lodging the additional charge.
Bonner was already facing first-degree kidnapping and first-degree assault charges in connection to the June 2, 2010 attack.
A Random Attack
At about 2 a.m. June 2, Bonner kidnapped the Cumberland Farms clerk from the shop on River Road. He put the 46-year-old woman in the trunk of his car, police said.
He drove away, but periodically stopped the car to beat the woman in the head with objects in his trunk, including soda cans, police said.
Bonner and the victim had no previous connection to each other, police said. He told police he was high on Angel Dust (PCP) at the time of the assault, according to an arrest warrant.
“She was beaten unconscious,” Shelton Detective Ben Trabka said.
The woman’s ordeal lasted some two hours. She turned up at about 4 a.m. in a neighborhood off River Road, dazed, badly injured and wearing only socks and a black T‑shirt.
The trauma from the beating caused bleeding on the woman’s brain in three places.
“She still has medical issues — probably always will,” Trabka said Thursday.
Police collected a sex assault kit at the hospital immediately after the attack. In November, the court ordered Bonner to submit a DNA sample.
The results matched the sex kit, Trabka said.
The Arrest
Police tracked Bonner down after receiving tips about a surveillance image they released from the Cumberland Farms. He was arrested later in the day June 2.
“It’s me in the pictures,” Bonner allegedly told police, according to an arrest warrant. “I just don’t know what I did to her.”
Since his arrest last year, Bonner has also been charged with first-degree robbery with a dangerous instrument.
It is unclear Thursday as to why that charge was added.
State’s Attorney Kevin D. Lawlor wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the new charges.
“I base charging decisions on the facts of the investigation,” he said.
Plea Bargain On The Table
Bonner has been in jail since his arrest. He appeared at Superior Court in Milford Thursday.
During the court appearance, Bonner’s attorney, public defender David Egan, said Bonner is considering a plea agreement offered by the state.
Judge Richard Arnold, Egan and Lawlor discussed two possible agreements in chambers, but didn’t discuss the details in open court.
“We are where we are,” Egan said in court. “I don’t think we’re going to resolve this matter today.”
Egan and Lawlor declined to elaborate when questioned by the Valley Indy.
Judge Arnold said he wanted an answer from Bonner by his next court date — on Sept. 27.
“I expect an acceptance or a rejection,” Judge Arnold said. “Resolve this matter or it’s going on the jury list.”
