LYNN — A 54-year-old man was arrested after police say he viciously sexually assaulted a woman and set fire to his Glenwood Road house Wednesday night.
Michael Comeau was charged with attempted murder, arson of a dwelling, aggravated rape and other crimes.
But his attorney said any violence that night was fueled by his client’s attempts to get the alleged victim’s pot bellied pigs out of his home. He said his client told police that his attempts prompted the 49-year-old woman to attack him.
Comeau was arraigned in Lynn District Court on Thursday and was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing, scheduled for Monday.
The alleged victim had gone to a neighbor’s house for assistance following the incident. The neighbor, who called 911 to report the incident, told police that when she answered the door, the victim was naked and bleeding heavily from her face and head, according to the police report.
The victim told police Comeau was trying to kill her and he set the house on fire, court records show. She was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where her injuries are not considered life-threatening, Police Lt. Michael Kmiec said.
When police and firefighters responded to the scene before 8:30 p.m., there was a fire in the basement and Comeau, the homeowner, was inside. Adding to the chaos, two pigs were also inside the house. Firefighters removed them and extinguished the blaze, Kmiec said.
Animal Control was called due to concern for the animals and they were eventually secured, court records show.
Prosecutors said Comeau violated a restraining order with his new charges. He had been ordered to stay away from the victim and where she lived, which was his home.
The victim told police Comeau had broken into the house Wednesday night and raped her. She said she remembered Comeau raping her, biting her breast and breaking her arm, but doesn’t remember what he stabbed her with, and asked officers if Comeau had stabbed her with a knife, court records show.
Court records show the woman suffered a broken bone in her neck, along with a bilateral scapular fracture and a fractured rib. She also had lacerations on her head.
The victim told police she didn’t know if Comeau had drugged, ambushed or suffocated her. She didn’t know why she could remember so little because she has a good memory. She said she remembered running naked to the neighbor’s house and thought the smoke in the house was already going on during the rape. She remembers asking Comeau to “let the piggies go,” court records show.
Ray Buso, Comeau’s attorney, said the case is about the pigs, and the animals sparked the incident.
“They’re not boyfriend/girlfriend,” Buso said. “They were just friends. She was homeless and he allowed her to move into the home he owned with her 250-pound pigs because she was a friend … He ordered that she get the pigs out, that this has been ongoing for weeks and she has kept saying that she can’t find a place for them.
“That’s what really fueled all of this, him trying to get the pigs out,” he said. “When the police interviewed him, he said she attacked him because he was demanding she get the pigs out and that she attacked him.”
Buso said it’s clear the alleged victim is on anti-anxiety medications and “that there are very many things that you would expect somebody who would have just been assaulted and beaten to remember, like what type of weapon you were cut with, how your wrist got broken … how did things happen, not small details, large details.”
Comeau told police that he went to his home on the night of the incident because he had received a phone call from a man, possibly his father, that the alleged victim was gone and that he could go home. He told police that the woman was not home when he arrived, court records show.
Comeau told police that he hadn’t had any interaction with the woman since they were in court the day before until he woke up and “bing, bang, boom” which he explained meant that he was hit about the head and face area. He told police that he was hit and attacked by the woman while he was in bed.
He said that the woman wanted to have sex with him, but that he had turned her down. He said the woman had come home “to try to make amends.” The man told police that the woman had punched him in the head and stabbed him with a knife. He was treated at Salem Hospital for his injuries. Following his arrest, a folding knife was found in Comeau’s front pants pocket, court records show.
Essex County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Tsingos had moved to revoke Comeau’s bail on Tuesday after he had violated a judge’s order to stay away from the victim, following a separate arraignment for assault and battery on Monday, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Lynn Police were called to the victim’s home twice the following day for reports Comeau violated the restraining order. In both cases, police were unable to find him and issued arrest warrants, prosecutors said.