Dajuan Roberts
Courtesy of the WCSO
A 25-year-old Ypsilanti Township man found guilty by a jury of brutally assaulting and raping his girlfriend will spend up to 90 years in prison.
Dajuan Roberts was sentenced Friday in the Washtenaw County Trial Court to 50 to 90 years in prison, according to Sgt. Geoffrey Fox of the sheriff's office.
Roberts was found guilty in April of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and assault with a dangerous weapon, domestic violence and assaulting, resisting or obstructing police. He was acquitted on one charge of assault with intent to murder and one charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
A jury convicted Roberts on the nine counts after a four-day trial.
Roberts assaulted and raped his girlfriend on March 21, 2012, at a residence in the 500 block of Emerick Street in Ypsilanti Township. Police said Roberts and the woman were arguing about their sexual relationship when Roberts struck the woman multiple times in the face and choked her to the point she almost blacked out.
The assault lasted for several hours. Roberts forced himself on the woman and even "branded" his initials on her with a hot wire hanger, police said.
Roberts continued to assault and choke the woman until someone else in the home called 911, according to police.
State records show Roberts was previously convicted of domestic violence in 2010 and pleaded no contest to two counts of assaulting and resisting or obstructing a police officer in 2011.
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.