A New London woman told investigators she spent a weekend in terror as her boyfriend repeatedly beat and raped her.
Sean R. Brigando, 25, is charged with attempted first-degree homicide, substantial battery, first-degree sexual assault with a weapon, second-degree sexual assault with use of force, false imprisonment, strangulation, felony intimidation of a victim and misdemeanor bail jumping.
He is currently in custody on a $500,000 cash bail. Brigando faces up to life in prison if convicted of attempted homicide and 60 years if convicted of first-degree sexual assault.
Brigando’s girlfriend spoke to Deputy Andrew Thorpe on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 8.
According to the criminal complaint, her ordeal began at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 when Brigando became angry that she returned home late.
She said Brigando started hitting her on the back of the head and pushed her against the bathroom wall.
When one end of the towel bar broke when she fell against it, Brigando allegedly pulled it the rest of the way out of the wall and hit her with it.
She fell to the floor, and Brigando continued striking her in the back, the complaint says.
The girlfriend said Brigando smashed one of her cellphones to keep her from calling for help. He then allegedly dropped an electric heater on her head.
She told Thorpe she did not fight back because she was afraid he was going to kill her.
“If I would have tried to hit back, you guys would have been hauling me out in a body bag,” the woman told police.
Briganda allowed the woman to go to work at about 9 p.m. Friday, the complaint says. However, the woman also said he became angry because a male co-worker gave her a ride.
The woman worked for less than two hours when she was sent home because she had difficulty maintaining her balance. She walked about 1.7 miles from where she works to her home in rural New London.
She told Thorpe that when she arrived, Brigando was angry at her because he suspected she told her co-workers about him. He locked the doors.
For the next several hours, Brigando allegedly slapped, punched and dumped soda on her.
She said he put his hand over her mouth, threatened to kill her, pulled her hair, spit in her face and raped her.
According to the criminal complaint, Brigando made the woman accompany him to Appleton, where he pawned a TV for drug money. The woman said she saw what appeared to be a drug deal when Brigando met another man and exchanged money.
The woman said Brigando later threw a knife at her and when it stuck in the floor a couple of feet away, he reportedly said, “Don’t think that I’m not afraid to slice you from ear to ear.”
Brigando raped the woman a second time, she told investigators.
The woman received medical treatment for her injuries. She is reported to have had a concussion and suffered bruising over her entire body.
When Thorpe questioned Brigando about what had happened to the woman, he said nothing had happened and that maybe she fell down, the complaint says.
Thorpe reported finding a cellphone in a pink case and two hypodermic needles in Brigando’s pants pocket.
On Aug. 11, Brigando was convicted of disorderly conduct as an act of domestic abuse and of misdemeanor bail jumping in Waupaca County.
On Sept. 13, Thorpe arrested Brigando after a reported domestic abuse complaint involving the same woman.