by Patrick H. Moore
It’s well-known that things can get pretty darned weird in Florida, AKA the “Gunshine State.” Every kind of crime known to man, woman or beast appears to take place there (though I must admit that the recent “dog pornography” case that was in the news — that All Things Crime Blog made a point of not covering — took place in North Carolina, several hundred miles to the north). Fortunately, this was not dog pornography and it was not rape/murder or anything nearly that serious. On the other hand it must have been extremely traumatic for the victim who just happened to be 80 years old. Here’s what happened, as reported by Alex Orlando in the Tampa Bay Times.
A 54-year-old man was arrested Tuesday in Holiday, Florida, a suburb of Tampa, after — according to deputies — he forcibly held down his 80-year-old girlfriend and allegedly tried to perform, or did perform, a two-day exorcism.
According to a Pasco County Sheriff’s report, this “holy event” began on Monday when David Edward Benes and his live-in girlfriend of three years got into a fight. Pasco became enraged, grabbed his girlfriend, held her down and began the holy ritual, telling her he was trying to “exorcise her and get the devil out of her.”
The victim appears to have resisted to the best of her ability; in any event, at some point, Benes removed the batteries from the house phones to keep her from calling for help. He confiscated her car keys and rigged the garage door to keep it from opening (shades of Wes Craven’s horror classic, Scream). According to the police report, the victim eventually fell asleep, which offered her some respite from her ordeal. Unfortunately, on Tuesday the exorcism began all over again.
It was unclear who actually contacted the authorities, but upon investigation, Sheriff’s deputies found Benes’ girlfriend sitting outside the home crying. Her arms were bruised and scratched. Benes, who had apparently given up by that point, was on the couch too drunk to remember what happened, according to the report. He had the audacity to tell the deputies that his girlfriend had started the fight “because she is crazy.”
Benes, of 2633 Albion St., was arrested on charges of domestic battery on a person 65 or older, tampering with a witness and false imprisonment. He remained in the Land O’Lakes jail Wednesday without bail. The records show that he’s been convicted of battery twice in Pasco County and once for violating a domestic violence injunction.