Waltham Man Charged in Brutal Attack on His Wife

A Waltham man is facing serious charges for viciously attacking his wife recently as their child was in the room.

Ariel Bernal, 32, of 17 Stratton Terrace, is facing charges for the attempted murder of his wife, assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to court records. He is also facing a charge of reckless endangerment of a child. 

According to the police report. Bernal allegedly attacked his wife at their Waltham home on Nov. 3 as their young child was home. 

Bernal, during a Nov. 4 Waltham District Court hearing, was ordered held pending a dangerousness hearing set for Nov. 8, according to court records.

The incident began on Nov. 3 at 9:37 p.m. when police received a report of a fire at Bernal’s home. When officers arrived, they found no fire, but a man who directed them to the home saying he heard yelling coming from the house. 

Police knocked on the door. Somebody answered the door but quickly slammed it in the officer’s face, according to the report. A moment later, the door was opened and officers saw a woman crying and clutching her throat. They also saw a man, later identified as Bernal, sweating with minor facial cuts. Bernal was holding his child.

As firefighters were treating the female victim, officers noticed she pointing out injuries that showed she had been choked, according to the report. The victim, who suffered, throat, elbow, knee and back injuries, was taken to a hospital. The report does not specify any injuries to the child. 

Through a translator, the victim told police she and Bernal had been drinking earlier in the day when they got into an argument in their bedroom, according to the report. The child was in the room during the argument. The victim told the police that as the argument escalated, Bernal grabbed her by throat and began choking her. Bernal then shoved the victim into the child’s crib, breaking the wood on side of it “while the child was still in the crib crying,” the victim told the police, according to the report. 

“During this, Bernal stated to [the victim] that he was ‘going to kill’ her,” the report states.

The victim began to pass out and believed she was going to die, according to the report. However, she scratched Bernal in an attempt to get him off of her, but Bernal pushed her against the bed.

“[The victim] was unconscious on the floor between the bed frame and the head board,” the report reads.

When she woke up, the victim saw Bernal standing over her holding the child, according to the report. The victim screamed for help, but Bernal did not try to stop her. 

Bernal told police the victim was drunk and “that she scratched him and nothing else happened,” according to the report.

As a result of their investigation, police arrested Bernal and served with him a restraining order on the victim’s behalf, according to the report.

After being booked at the Waltham Police Department Headquarters, Bernal said he had been drinking at another home and that he had argued with the victim upon arriving home, according to the report. He said she scratched him and denied attacking the victim.

Police filed a 51A report with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families to investigate possible abuse or neglect of the child, according to the police report.