Police: Sex Offender Smothers Woman with Pillow

Police charged Antonio Bryant, 47, of 19 Chapel St., Newport, with felony domestic simple assault, third offense, failing to register as a sex offender and domestic failure to relinquish a telephone Tuesday at 1:10 p.m.

Police said they were dispatched to a Donovan Manor apartment for a domestic incident where the victim was outside and said Bryant would not let her leave the apartment since he violently assaulted her on Aug. 30.

She told police that Bryant grabbed her, threw her on the bed, pinned her with a bed sheet, stuck four fingers in her mouth and grabbed her jaw before muffling her face with a pillow.

The victim said she was afraid that Bryant would kill her but he eventually let her get up after she stopped yelling as he pushed the pillow against her face.

She managed to get out alone on Tuesday after she told him she was going to walk the dog, according to police.

Police went to the apartment and Bryant reportedly was incoherent and did not respond to police questions.

He also allegedly threw the victim’s cell phone into a sink filled with water to prevent her from calling police as she was being held against her will.

Bryant was arrested and police later discovered that Bryant is a convicted sex offender with a listed address in a different municipality. As a result, police tacked on a charge of failing to register an address change as a sex offender.

He was also charged with failing relinquish a telephone for throwing the victim’s cell phone into the water.

Court records show that Bryant has been charged with failing to register an address change four times since his 2004 arrest by Pawtucket Police for first-degree child molestation. He eventually pleaded no contest to an amended charge of second-degree child molestation in 2005.

Bryant was released on surety bail and is due to appear in Third Division District Court on Oct. 16 for an attorney general screening conference.