May 5, 2006

WIFE IN HIDING--CLAIMS HER SHERIFF HUSBAND RAPED HER





Seattle, WA - The wife of a Seattle-area sheriff's deputy has gone into hiding after her husband allegedly raped her following an argument.


Before Joyce DeAllah fled Wednesday night, she contacted ABC News' Seattle affiliate KOMO to tell her story and what she described as a desperate escape from an abusive husband.


M. Amaad DeAllah, a King County sheriff's deputy and 21-year veteran of the department, was arrested and jailed Saturday on investigation of second-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment. "It was just a nightmare," his wife said of the alleged incident.


According to court documents, DeAllah, 45, returned to his Kent, Wash., house late Friday night and got into an argument with his wife after he saw her drinking with his son and some of the teen's friends. Joyce DeAllah told KOMO her husband became enraged and she had to jump from a second-story window to escape.


"The only way out was through the window," she said. Her husband then allegedly dragged her back inside the house. "He locked me in the bedroom, would not let me out of the bedroom," she said. He "threw me down and shoved me so many times that I was so weak that he finally got me on the bed." She said her husband then raped her twice.


'It Was Just Horrifying'


Through tears, Joyce DeAllah described what she was thinking while her husband assaulted her. "This is not gonna continue to happen," she said. "He's not gonna beat me anymore, he's not gonna throw me down, he's not gonna rape me again. Ever."


DeAllah eventually drove his wife to Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle to be treated for a knee injury suffered when she jumped out the window. Doctors there transferred her to Harborview Medical Center while DeAllah slept in the waiting room.


Emergency room workers at Harborview called police to report a possible rape. When detectives asked DeAllah whether he and his wife had intercourse that evening, he said yes and that his wife likes rough sex and has mental health issues.


Joyce DeAllah was treated for a torn leg tendon and facial abrasions. The court documents said that a sexual assault examination revealed injuries consistent with rape and anal rape. "It was just horrifying," she said. "It was unreal."


On Tuesday afternoon, DeAllah posted $250,000 bail and was released from jail. The court granted his wife a restraining order that barred him from contacting her or coming within 500 feet of their Kent home.


Arrested Again


Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen told KOMO that on Wednesday morning, DeAllah's wife returned to the home to find DeAllah in the front yard. Petersen said several witnesses saw him on the property. DeAllah was arrested by Kent police for violating the no-contact order. He is being held in the Kent City Jail pending a court hearing, Petersen said.


Prosecutors are still trying to determine whether DeAllah should be charged. The King County Sheriff's Department placed him on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.


"Tonight I'm gonna be safe," his wife said Wednesday afternoon. "I'm gonna be safe, my kids are gonna be safe, and I can sleep."


Though ABC News and KOMO News usually do not identify victims of sexual assaults, Joyce DeAllah told KOMO she wanted to speak publicly because her husband has made statements to investigators attacking her credibility. She is now in hiding with her two daughters and said she isn't sure where she will go. "My whole life as I know it before has ended," she said. "I had to say goodbye to my friends, my job and lose everything to be safe."




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