photo by: Journal-World File Photo

In this file photo from Aug. 4, 2020, a Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured outside the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Lawrence man facing several felony charges is accused of beating a woman he was in a romantic relationship with and then threatening to kill her with a knife and a stolen gun, an affidavit supporting the arrest alleges.

The account from a responding police officer outlines how Robert Brothers Jr., now 19, allegedly beat the woman repeatedly during two separate incidents in February until she could get away from him in the safety of a Lawrence bank, where the police were contacted.

During one of the incidents, which occurred at Brothers’ home, he allegedly threatened to kill the woman because he believed she had cheated on him and had lied about it. The woman told police that Brothers pointed a gun at her and said, “If you lie to me again, I am going to shoot you. If you lie to me again, I’m actually going to kill you today.”

Lawrence police arrested Brothers outside Bank Midwest, 4831 W. Sixth St., on Feb. 10 while the woman was inside. As the Journal-World previously reported, he is charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal threat, which are all felonies. He is also charged with two counts of domestic battery, theft and interference with law enforcement, which are misdemeanors.

The affidavit supporting Brothers’ arrest was recently released to the Journal-World with several identifying details of the woman and others redacted. Allegations in affidavits have not been proved in court, and defendants in criminal cases should be presumed not guilty unless and until they are convicted.

Brothers’ case is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 20. He is currently being held in the Douglas County Jail on a $250,000 cash or surety bond, according to jail records.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has repeatedly refused to release Brothers’ booking photo to the Journal-World.

According to the affidavit:

On Feb. 9, the woman said she was at Brothers’ apartment when he accused her of cheating on him. Eventually, Brothers settled down, and the woman stayed the night at his apartment.

The next morning, Feb. 10, the woman said Brothers woke her up by dumping water on her and confronting her about whom she had sex with. She said he was standing in the doorway of the room holding a gun and that he threatened to kill her.

“I ain’t playing with you today,” Brothers reportedly said. “If you lie to me again, I’m going to kill you.”

The woman went to the bathroom, where Brothers followed her and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her out. He then approached her with a knife, she said, and continued to ask whom she had sex with. She reportedly told Brothers she wasn’t seeing anyone else, but Brothers would just hold the knife closer to her, she said.

After the woman repeatedly said she wasn’t seeing another person, Brothers reportedly pinned her to the ground and strangled her repeatedly and again threatened to kill her. Brothers then punched the woman, she said, resulting in her suffering a bruised and swollen cheek.

Brothers then again strangled the woman, lifting her up off the ground against a wall; she said she was scared she was going to die. After letting her down, Brothers reportedly kicked her in the side twice.

Once Brothers calmed down and left the room, the woman came up with a story that she needed to go to the bank. Brothers reportedly forced the woman to put on makeup to cover up her visible wounds from the attack. While she was putting on makeup, Brothers stood in the door so the woman couldn’t leave. When she attempted to leave, Brothers reportedly pushed his body into hers and said, “You aren’t going anywhere, sit the (expletive) down.”

They both eventually left the apartment and went to the bank, where the woman went inside and told the staff to call the police.

Police responded to a domestic battery call from the bank, where they said a woman was “battered and bruised” and was being kept inside. Police pulled up next to the car, where Brothers was sitting in the passenger seat.

When asked for his name, Brothers gave an alias, was not cooperative and asked why they were talking to him. While backing away from the car, an officer noticed a “plastic item” in the pocket of Brothers’ hoodie sweatshirt. The officer asked what the object was, but Brothers did not answer. After repeatedly being asked, Brothers said it was “nothing.”

Officers reached into the car and grabbed Brothers’ arms. While searching Brothers, the officers said, they recovered a loaded pistol. The pistol was later determined to have been reported stolen in October.

A third officer entered the bank and met with the woman, who was crying and had blood in her right eye and bruising on her face.

While being interviewed, the woman recounted an earlier incident on Feb. 5, when Brothers reportedly became angry with her, but she could not remember what for. While in the same bedroom, Brothers reportedly said, “You tell me the truth now or we can do this with violence.” He then allegedly picked up and threw the woman onto the ground and strangled her.

The woman said he repeatedly strangled her throughout the incident, which she said lasted about six hours, and the woman asked him to kill her to end the torture. Brothers also reportedly used an HDMI cable to corral the woman. When she tried to run away, he reportedly swung the cord around her neck and dragged her back into the apartment.

But when a third person arrived at the apartment, Brothers reportedly stopped the abuse. The woman said she received multiple injuries from the incident, including bruises and lacerations.