Woman convicted of aggravated assault after driving into her boyfriend’s car
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — A 35-year-old woman has been convicted of aggravated assault in reference to an incident that took place in 2022 with her boyfriend.
According to a release from District Attorney Anita Howard’s Office, on February 20th of 2022, Neilisa Hendley had come to the home of her boyfriend, John Rawls Jr., angry because they were breaking up. Hendley took some of Rawls’ property from the home, and then proceeded to ram her vehicle head-on into his vehicle while he was standing at the door of his vehicle– the hit was hard enough to cause the airbag to deploy and hit him in the face. Hendley rammed her vehicle into Rawls’ an additional 2 times before she left the scene.
Law enforcement arrived and were able to capture the damage of the scene on body cam footage, which was later showed to the jury that would find Hendley guilty of assaulting Rawls. It’s noted in the release from DA Howard that Rawls’ 3 children that were minors witnessed the violent event involving their father.
April 6th, the jury found Hendley guilty and she was sentenced to 10 years on probation, and must attend a family violence intervention program. She is also noted to have gotten back into a relationship with Rawls.
DA Howard had this to say concerning the conviction:
“Domestic violence crimes are some of the hardest that my Office has to prosecute, but are also some of the most tragic. Children should never have to be exposed to this type of violent behavior from those closest to them. The trauma they experience from such events can last a lifetime. These unseen victims are the ones that my Office will always stand up for, even when our own direct victims do not wish for us to do so. I truly thank this jury for having the courage to see and to condemn the wrongs that were committed in this case.”
