Abuser gets two years in jail

By Linda Cicoira

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney William Fox was adamant Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court that an abusive husband should get the maximum prison term for threatening his wife.

The prosecutor said two witnesses saw 32-year-old Brenn Thomas Aument, of Greenbush, repeatedly strike his wife with his fists in a marshy area of Assateague Island in August of 2024.

“Next time, he will kill her,” Fox said. “That’s what he wants to do. These are just three offenses … All he wants to do is hurt her over and over.” He recommended two five-year terms for the defendant to run consecutively. “He should serve every minute of it. That’s the only way…”

Fox played a video of one encounter between the couple in which Aument tossed his wife around a room and grabbed her by the throat, telling her, “I’ll kill you now.”

Defense lawyer Carl Bundick said his client’s wife was in court to ask for a plan that would allow the two of them “to continue a life together” with their four-year-old son.

“It’s not much of a life,” Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. said. “She’s textbook.”

The woman wrote in an impact statement that she believes Aument “deserves another chance because he is not by nature a violent person” and only acts that way when he is intoxicated. Her letter stated that she was taking care of her parents and the child, working three jobs, and was overwhelmed by it all.

“He will not keep his hands off of her,” Fox said. “It’s not that he cannot. He will not.”

In 2023, the prosecutor said he smacked her so hard he ruptured her eardrum. From Jan. 1 to March 19, while Aument was in jail, he made 645 phone calls to her number.  “If she didn’t answer, he would hang up and call again.”

“I would just like to say that I’m sorry for any actions that I’m accused of today,” Aument said, adding ‘there are two sides to every story.” He asked for leniency.

“You have a problem,” Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. told the defendant. The judge said he would follow the guidelines, but warned him not to appear in court again.

Aument was given a total of 10 years, with all but two years suspended. He was given three years of supervised probation and five years of good behavior. He was given another 10 days in jail for a pretrial violation.