Wife details husband's alleged attack in Fontana attempted murder trial

FONTANA -- When her husband began choking her as she slept, Augustina Anene said she first believed she was having a bad dream.

"I felt pressure on my chest," she said. "I couldn't get air."

When she opened her eyes, she saw her estranged husband leaning over her, with one of his hands covering her mouth and the other hand on her throat.

She screamed for help and felt she was going to die. She was saved by her 18-year-old son, who kicked open his mother's bedroom door and pushed off his father.

Anene's account of her husband's alleged attack came in her testimony today during Augustine Anene's attempted murder trial in Fontana Superior Court.

Augustine Anene, a former computer instructor at Garey High School in Pomona, is accused of sneaking into his estranged wife's Fontana home on March 28 and hiding in her bedroom closet until she fell asleep.

After the incident, police found a crowbar in the wife's bed. Prosecutors believe it was left there by Augustine Anene.

Prosecutors say Augustine Anene's alleged attack was the culmination of more than a decade of emotional and physical abuse toward his wife of 19 years.

"It was not a good marriage, as you can probably tell," Deputy District Attorney Tonya Cole told jurors Monday in her opening statement.

Augustine Anene's attorney told jurors in her opening statement that the husband sneaked into his wife's home because he wanted to talk to her to try to repair their marriage.

"He was there to talk to her," Gina Kershaw told the jury of six men and six women. "That's all."

And because a restraining order prohibited him from contacting her, he felt approaching her as she slept was the only way to gain access without her calling police. He brought the crowbar to break in, not to use as a weapon, Kershaw said.

"Was it a situation where he had to sneak in? Yes," Kershaw said.

Augustine Anene, 54, will take the witness stand during the trial, Kershaw said.

"He is going to tell each of you what happened," she said.

Anene has been jailed in lieu of $2 million bail since his arrest the night of the alleged attack.
He resigned his teaching job in April after working 18 years for the Pomona Unified School District.

In a full day of testimony today, Augustina Anene detailed the times her husband allegedly abused her prior to March, and explained how their relationship deteriorated and led to their separation.

The woman testified that in 1999, her husband slapped her and drove her head into a pillow after they argued over a pornographic magazine she found in his backpack.

In 2005, the couple fought after Augustine Anene reportedly forged his wife's signature to refinance their mortgage, his wife testified.

Augustina Anene said her husband choked her until her mother-in-law, who was visiting, broke up the fight.

The wife said she declined to press charges after her mother-in-law begged her not to.

The final instance of abuse before the couple's separation came in December.

Augustine Anene had planned a trip to Nigeria, his native country, without telling his wife. During an argument about his transportation to LAX, he knocked her into a wall, his wife testified.

While Augustine Anene was in Nigeria, his wife obtained a restraining order prohibiting him from coming within 100 yards of her or the couple's four boys, and requiring him to move out of the family's home in the 17500 block of Firethorn Road.

When Augustine Anene returned from Nigeria and was served with the restraining order, he ransacked the family's home and took his wife's clothes, she testified.

In her opening statement, Kershaw cast Augustina Anene as a manipulative liar who complained about having to help pay the family's expenses despite her nearly six-figure annual income as a nurse.

"In this case Mr. Anene is not the controller," Kershaw said. "Mrs. Anene is the controller."
The couple had little contact -- besides seeing each other in court in divorce proceedings -- before Augustine Anene's alleged attack in March.

According to prosecutors, the husband carried out an extensive plan in trying to kill his wife and elude authorities.

He reportedly hid the phones in the house to delay family members should they try to contact police. He left his shoes outside and entered the house barefoot to minimize noise from his footsteps.

He also removed the license plates from his car, making his presence down the street less noticeable, Cole said in her opening statement.