Man Sentenced To 63 Months In Sexual Assault Case

A 40-year-old man was sentenced to 63 months in prison on Wednesday, about two months after entering a plea in connection to a violent sexual assault.

Judge Patrick Clifford also ordered Robert Douchette, of Alger Place, to serve five years of special parole on a charge of first-degree aggravated sexual assault. He must register as a lifetime sex offender, have no contact with the victim, attend substance abuse and sex offender counseling and treatment, and seek mental health treatment and anger management counseling. The sentence was stayed until March 28.

According to a report by Office Joseph Buzzelli of the , police responded to a domestic incident at Alger Place shortly before 5:15 a.m. on Jan. 16, 2010. A neighbor told officers that a naked woman had run to his house screaming that Douchette was trying to kill her.

The woman said she and Douchette, then of North Stonington, had started to have consensual sex, but that she asked to stop. She said Douchette got angry and began punching holes in the walls and damaging items in the bedroom. She said Douchette then physically and sexually assaulted her, bound her wrists, and threatened to cut her throat with a knife if she did not do as he said. The woman said she was eventually able to run outside to find help.

Douchette told police the two had consensual sex and said the woman damaged the apartment during fits of anger. He said he shown her a knife after saying she had broken his heart and told her to “push it in and finish the job,” but denied threatening her with it.

Douchette was initially charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree threatening, interfering with a 911 call, first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree criminal mischief, and second-degree breach of peace.

On Dec. 14, he entered an Alford plea in to the sexual assault charge. This plea does not admit guilt to the charge, but agrees that the state could prevail if the case went to trial. On the same day, he entered an Alford plea to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in Stonington on Dec. 12, 2009; Clifford ordered parole on this case concurrent to the parole period in the sexual assault case.

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