By Wayne Gates –
A man was convicted of Rape, Gross Sexual Imposition and Abduction after a two day trial in Brown County Common Pleas Court will spend six years in prison.
Newman Powih was sentenced Nov. 15.
Common Pleas Judge Scott Gusweiler sentenced Powih to five years on the Rape charge and one year on the Abduction charge to be served consecutively.
The Gross Sexual Imposition charge was merged into the Rape charge for sentencing.
Powih has also been indicted on two counts of Gross Sexual Imposition in Warren County under alleged similar circumstances.
Brown County First Assistant Prosecutor Zac Corbin said that Powih was on his first day on the job at the Locust Ridge Nursing Home in Williamsburg when the assault took place.
“He essentially cornered another employee in a resident room, shut the door, confined her and sexually assaulted her,” said Corbin.
“She was able to get away and reported the incident to a co-worker and her co-workers got her to a safe location and called the authorities.”
Corbin said that the charges against Powih in Warren County allegedly occurred just ten days prior to the incident in Williamsburg.
Powih had nothing to say during his sentencing, but his alleged victim in Warren County expressed strong feelings following the hearing.
“The sentence wasn’t enough. He’s just an evil person who hasn’t taken responsibility for his actions. Not only did he attack us once, he used his defense attorney to do it again in the trial.”
The victim was called as a witness in the trial and testified against Powih, and said that she feels victimized by both him and the process.
“I have to continue to go through therapy and to realign my career in a different field. I have two children to keep moving forward for, “ she said.
The victim said that going through the trial experience was painful, but that it was worth it to help set an example for other victims to come forward.
“When people don’t come forward, people like him will do it again and hurt other people.”
Powih is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on the Warren County charges on Nov. 22.