HANCOCK COUNTY — A Hancock County judge has acquitted a Greenfield man who had been accused of strangling a woman and injuring her teen-age daughter’s ankle after the woman took the stand during his trial and testified she made the whole thing up.
Kims Sandaire, 36, Greenfield, was found not guilty on three felony charges and one misdemeanor charge by Judge Scott Sirk in Hancock County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon after the one-day bench trial Monday.
The woman originally claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse stemming from an incident in August 2018. That’s when she told police she was choked to the point of passing out after an argument with Sandaire. However, under oath this week, she changed her story.
The woman told deputy prosecutor Catherine Wilson during testimony that she made up the story about the attack in an alcohol-fueled act of revenge against Sandaire. She also told the court she convinced her children to lie to police about the night in question. That included getting her teen-age daughter to tell police Sandaire injured her, twisting her ankle.
Two of the women’s children testified and told the court they lied to police the night of the incident at their mother’s prompting.
Officers from Greenfield Police Department, however, testified they believed violence had occurred. They even sent the woman to the hospital that night to be examined to make sure she didn’t have internal injuries, testimony showed.
Sandaire was arrested the night of the incident and charged with a Level 5 felony count of domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury; a Level 6 felony charge of strangulation; a Level 6 felony charge of domestic battery committed in the presence of a child, and a Class A misdemeanor charge of domestic battery.
During her opening statement, Wilson told the court there would be conflicting testimony but that prosecutors believed the information gathered on the night of the incident by police officers was accurate.
After Sirk announced his decision Tuesday afternoon, Wilson said she still thinks the woman and her teenage daughter were victims of domestic abuse.
“Domestic violence is our dirty little secret that is typically behind closed doors and that’s where sometimes people want to leave it and I think that’s what has happened in this case,” Wilson said.
Madison Garrity, the Hancock County victim advocate for Alternatives Inc., said it’s not uncommon for women to report domestic violence but then change their story to protect the person who hurt them.
“This is a common occurrence,” Garrity said. “There can be so many reasons why a survivor of domestic violence may do this.”
Garrity noted while people think doing something like changing a story to protect the abuser could place the survivor at even greater risk, it is ultimately their decision.
“If they choose to stay with their abuser, it is highly advised that they consider working with a victim advocate to establish a safety plan which will allow them to develop a plan of action to keep themselves safe in case future incidents of violence occur,” Garrity said.
Prior to announcing his decision, Sirk told Sandaire, the woman and the children, who were all sitting in the courtroom, that people can get killed in these situations.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,” Sirk said, quoting the 19th century Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott.
After the verdict, officials from the prosecutors office would not rule out charges against the woman for making false reports to police.
