Middletown man gets 10 years in domestic assault case

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Middletown man was sentenced to prison for breaking into a former girlfriend’s home and attacking her, prosecutors said Thursday.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said 47-year-old Robert Leeming entered a plea of nolo contendere to felony strangulation and breaking and entering charges in Providence County Superior Court on June 13.

A judge sentenced him to 20 years with 10 to serve at the Adult Correctional Institutions followed by a 10 year suspended sentence and 20 years of probation.

Leeming was ordered not to contact the victim. He must also participate in a batterers’ intervention program.

Neronha said Leeming is a “habitual violent offender against women.”

Prosecutors said Leeming broke into his then-girlfriend’s Cumberland home and violently attacked her on the evening of March 20, 2021.

Police responded to a 911 call from the victim, who said she jumped from her second-story apartment window to get away from him.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital to be treated for her injuries, including fractures to both heels.

Leeming was arrested a few days later.