Trish Mehaffey, CR Gazette –
A woman severely beaten by a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Cedar Rapids woman said Thursday she’s speaking out because she doesn’t want the man to hurt anyone else.
Aleta Roby, 47, said her husband, William Roby, ruptured her left ear drum, fractured her left eye socket and broke her dentures during an assault in August at his home in Fort Dodge. That was not her first injuries from a beating, but she said it was her last.
“I’m not going back,” she said in a phone interview Thursday. “I tried to leave before, but he threatened my kids. I was scared to leave but scared to stay.”
William Roby, 51, charged last year in Linn County for first-degree kidnapping, is back in jail and faces new charges out of Webster County for violation of a protection order, willful injury causing serious injury – stalking, and assault with intent to inflict serious injury (domestic abuse). Roby had been free on bond in the kidnapping case.
Roby also has two other Webster County charges filed in July for two incidents involving Aleta Roby. In those cases, he is charged with two counts of assault causing bodily injury (domestic abuse).
Assistant Linn County Attorney Jason Burns asked the court Aug. 28 to revoke Roby’s pre-trial release and asked for a higher bond of $1 million, but a judge revoked release and reinstated a cash-only $250,000 bond. Roby remains in the Fort Dodge Jail and hasn’t yet been transferred back to Linn County.
Aleta Roby said she was hit more than once in her back, jaw and face in the July assaults. Her injuries included face bruising, black eyes, a cut on her back and bruising to her tailbone.
“That one wasn’t as bad as the last one (in August),” Aleta Roby said. “He always hit me in the head. The doctor said I probably have some scar tissue. This time (Aug. 16), he hit me in the head, fractured my eye socket, ruptured my ear drum, broke my dentures and sexually assaulted me. I just had surgery last Friday. They removed the bone underneath my left eye. I don’t know about my eardrum yet and my dentures haven’t been replaced yet.”
Aleta Roby said the assaults usually started over something little that her husband would be upset over or about a financial matter. The second assault in July happened when she tried to leave him. She attempted to leave him at different times during their one-year marriage but he had total control over her. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight, she had no access to a car or money, and he eventually took away her phone and prevented her from contact with her children.
In the kidnapping case, Roby is accused of forcing a 62-year-old woman into his apartment May 15, 2011, holding her for nearly 10 hours and repeatedly sexually assaulting her, according to a search warrant.
He also threatened to kill the woman’s cat if she didn’t follow his orders, and also threatened to kill her and himself if police showed up, according to the warrant.
William Roby told The Gazette in June that he was innocent of the kidnapping charges and never sexually assaulted the woman.
Roby’s trial has been reset to Jan. 7, 2013.
