Tomi B. v. Andre V. CA4/1

BACKGROUND

While Andre and Tomi were cohabiting, they got into an argument and she locked him out of the home. Andre entered through a kitchen window and kicked a hole in Tomi’s bedroom door. When Tomi opened the door, she and Andre continued to argue, and he “push[ed] [her] around” as she struggled to get him out of the home for several hours until he finally left. After this incident, the couple stopped living together but continued to work for the same employer. Andre contacted Tomi multiple times each day about their relationship even though she did not want the contact. Tomi requested the family court grant a DVRO requiring Andre “to leave [her] alone” and preventing “him [from] coming to [her] home again.” The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring Andre to stay 100 yards away from Tomi and prohibiting him from contacting or harassing her, and set a hearing on a more permanent order. The parties appeared at the hearing and testified. The court found Tomi more credible than Andre; found she had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that he committed domestic violence against her; ordered him to attend a 52-week batterer’s program; and issued a one-year DVRO…