State v. Elmer G.

Citations

• 333 Conn. 176

Syllabus

Convicted of two counts each of the crimes of sexual assault in the second degree and risk of injury to a child, and three counts of the crime of criminal violation of a restraining order, the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court. The defendant, his wife, A, and the minor victim, their daughter, came to the United States from Guatemala. While living in Connecticut, the defendant sexually abused the victim and was verbally and physically abusive toward A and the couple's other children. A eventually reported the defendant's physical abuse of her to the police while the defendant was out of the country and obtained an ex parte restraining order, which was served on him when he returned to the United States. The ex parte order, inter alia, prohibited the defendant from contacting A and her children, and denied the defendant visitation rights pending a hearing. After the hearing, which the defendant attended with his counsel, the trial court issued a temporary restraining order that prohibited the defendant from contacting A and contained additional orders providing that A's children also were protected by the order. The order also allowed the defendant weekly, supervised visitation with the children. Other parts of the order reiterated its terms and stated that violation of the order was a criminal offense and that contacting a protected person could violate the order. The order also contained a Spanish translation of its terms on a separate page. At the hearing, during which the defendant, whose primary language is Spanish, required an interpreter, the trial court explained the terms of the temporary restraining order to the defendant. The court stated, inter alia, that the order prohibited the defendant from assaulting, threatening, abusing or harassing A and the children and that he was not to have any contact with A in any manner. The court further stated that the defendant could have supervised, weekly contact with the children. The defendant thereafter conta