Bangor Daily News (Maine)

February 13, 2004 Friday
Correction Appended
All Editions

Psychiatrist gets 6 months in assault case

BYLINE: WALTER GRIFFIN OF THE NEWS STAFF

SECTION: Pg. B3

LENGTH: 674 words

DATELINE: BELFAST

Child psychiatrist Robert Struba was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for pummeling his female companion in the face as she arrived home with a load of groceries for him and their twin daughters.
Struba, 50, formally of Race Street in Belfast and whose most recent residence was at his parents’ home in Fall River, Mass., expressed deep remorse for his crime when he stood before Waldo County Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills for sentencing Thursday morning.
Struba initially had faced charges of attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated assault and terrorizing as a result of the Nov. 20, 2002, attack at the couple’s Belfast home.
However, in an agreement accepted by the state, Struba pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and the other charges were dismissed.
Deputy District Attorney Leane Zania told Justice Mills that the state accepted the plea bargain because the victim, “has minimized some of the defendant’s conduct that occurred on this date.”
Justice Mills accepted the plea and sentenced Struba to five years in prison with all but six months suspended and four years of probation. Conditions of his probation restrict Struba from the use or possession of drugs, alcohol, firearms and other dangerous weapons. He also is required to undergo substance abuse counseling, submit to random searches of his person, vehicle and home, and attend a certified batterer’s counseling program.
Although prosecutor Zania also requested that Struba be restricted to supervised contact with his children, Judge Mills declined to enforce that condition. It was noted that Struba already is under an order of protection from abuse that requires supervised contact with the children. The protection order will expire in December.
Struba’s victim told Mills that her 6-year-old girls are “happy when they see their dad,” and that she believed he has been “remorseful” since the assault.
“My children miss their dad,” the victim told Mills.
Both Struba and the victim sank their heads to their chests as Zania played a 911 call that was recorded the night of the assault. On the tape the victim could be heard shrieking and sobbing uncontrollably and telling the dispatcher “he just attacked me.”
According to police reports filed in connection with the case, officers arriving at the scene observed the victim with her face and hands covered with blood. They reported seeing a wound to the victim’s head and multiple bruises on her face, neck and hands.
Police Chief Allen Weaver reported that the victim said she had arrived home from shopping with her arms filled with bags of groceries. Weaver said she told him that Struba encountered her on the porch and he began punching her with his fists and then started choking her. He also hit her on the head with a child’s toy shovel, she told police.
When police confronted Struba, he told them the victim “was a black belt” and that she attacked him. He was arrested and taken to jail.
In arguing for leniency, defense attorney William Dawson of Belfast said that Struba was “burned out” from dealing with the emotional problems of children, and had “been using alcohol to medicate his misery.” He said Struba was under the influence of alcohol the night of the assault. Struba has undergone extensive counseling since the incident, said Dawson.
Struba told the court that “not a day goes by that I don’t feel sorry.” He said if there was “a small bit of good” that came from the incident, it was that he finally got the help he needed.
“It in no way excuses what I did. I did [it] and it’s wrong and I’m sorry for it,” said Struba. “It feels good that I’m putting the monkey on my back behind me.”
Justice Mills replied that “hopefully” Struba had learned from his behavior.
“Mr. Struba has hit bottom, so to speak, and he has made significant effort since then to see what he could do to get his life in order,” she said. “I am satisfied there are safeguards in order that contact [with his children] can take place.”