NORRISTOWN – A former Lower Salford man faces some time behind bars and anger management counseling after he admitted to strangling and assaulting a woman during a 2017 domestic disturbance in the township.
Dino Italban Martin-Stephens, 40, formerly of the 400 block of Main Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 111/2 to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of strangulation and simple assault in connection with a Dec. 21, 2017, incident at his former residence.
Judge Todd Eisenberg ordered Martin-Stephens to report to the jail in Lower Providence on Oct. 13 to begin serving what remains of his sentence. Martin-Stephens will receive credit for several months he spent in jail between 2019 and 2020 while awaiting court action on the charges.
The judge also sentenced Martin-Stephens, who most recently listed an address in Philadelphia, to complete five years’ probation consecutive to parole, meaning Martin-Stephens will be under court supervision for a total of seven years.
Martin-Stephens also must complete anger management and domestic violence counseling programs as part of the sentence.
The judge ordered Martin-Stephens to have no offensive contact with the woman he assaulted.
The investigation began about 5:10 a.m. Dec. 21, 2017, when township police responded to the 400 block of Main Street for a report of “a physical domestic” that occurred earlier at a residence in the Village Square Apartments complex. Upon arrival, police were met by the victim who was in a nearby driveway.
The woman told police she was assaulted by Martin-Stephens about 3 a.m. during an argument inside the residence they shared.
“During the argument Dino jumped on top of her and put his hands around her neck and began to squeeze,” Lower Salford Police Officer Jason Alderfer wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the woman claimed she could not breathe for about 30 seconds. “She was almost unconscious when he let go.”
Martin-Stephens also punched the woman on both legs during the assault, police alleged. During a struggle, Martin-Stephens also pushed the victim against a wall and placed his hands around her neck a second time and strangled her, police alleged.
“During the struggle, Dino told her he would ‘end it all,’” Alderfer alleged.
The woman eventually was able to flee from the residence and she ran to her nearby place of employment to call the police, according to court papers. Police said they observed various scratches and bruises on the victim’s neck and legs.
Martin-Stephens was taken into custody a short time later and at the time told police he and the woman “had a mutual fight” about the dissolution of their relationship.
Other charges of aggravated assault, harassment, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person were dismissed against Martin-Stephens.
