MANCHESTER, NH – A man accused of throwing a glass vase at a hotel clerk who asked him to put on a mask was ordered held in preventative detention.
Hillsborough County Superior Court North Judge David Anderson, presiding Wednesday at the arraignment of Ayuen Leek, 23, of 342 Concord St., Apt. 2, on a felony charge of second-degree assault, said he found Leek’s actions “extremely troubling given the current pandemic.”
On Dec. 8, a maskless Leek entered the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express,1298 South Porter St. Defense Attorney Devon Ayer said her client went there to meet friends.
When the 19-year-old front desk clerk asked him to put on a mask, police said he refused and started yelling and swearing at her. She asked him to leave, but police said Leek threw a glass vase at her, hitting her in the face, causing cuts and swelling. Leek then fled the hotel.
Ayer said the incident would not have happened if Leek did not have alcohol abuse issues.
Leek himself was a victim of a recent assault. He was arrested on Dec. 29 after police were called to the Elliot Hospital for a report of a man seeking medical treatment for a stab wound to the arm. That man was Leek.
Leek told police he was attacked by a man who hit him in the head with a hammer and a woman who stabbed him in the arm.
Ayer said Leek has had housing issues since most of his family, which consists of his parents and eight siblings, moved to Arizona because of his mother’s health issues. He had been staying with other relatives.
According to court records, on Tuesday police went to 190 Spruce St. for a reported stabbing. They found Leek suffering from a stab wound to the upper left arm and a head wound.
Officers identified 253 Lake Ave., as the scene of the assault.
Leek told police he went to see his friend, Deng Choi, 43, who lives there in apartment 3C. Leek said he knocked on the door, Choi opened it and allegedly hit him in the head with a hammer.
Choi’s girlfriend, Sarah Fitton, 35, and another woman he identified as “Candice” chased him down the hall. Leek said Fitton, Choi’s girlfriend, stabbed him in the arm with a knife, according to police. Ayer told the judge the wound required six stitches to close.
Both Fitton and Choi were arrested and charged with first-degree assault.
Ayer asked the judge to release Leek on $2,000 cash/surety bail with conditions that he meet with a counselor concerning his alcohol abuse and live with his brother in Manchester who works for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Fitton, who also was arraigned Wednesday, was ordered held in preventive detention. She previously was convicted of stabbing a woman in the face, according to Assistant County Attorney Jonathan Coval.
