Manchester Man Charged With Sexual Assault Of A Woman In Cemetery

MANCHESTER, NH — Manchester Police and AMR ambulance were sent to the Valley Street Cemetery on the Pine Street side on Thursday for a report of a woman being sexually assaulted.

AMR was advised to stay away from the scene while officers secured the area and advised an assailant with a knife was possibly still in the area.

Police Spokesperson Heather Hamel said the female caller stated she was sexually assaulted and the male suspect was still on scene. When officers arrived, they located a man and woman.

Court paperwork stated the victim came running toward police when they arrived. The victim, the reported noted, was naked from the waist down with blood on her hands and legs. The woman was visibly upset and reported having been held against her will for about two hours while the man assaulted her, according to police.

The man, identified as Amuri Diole, 27, of Manchester, with no set address, was taken into custody and charged with three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and two counts of felony criminal threatening with a deadly weapon.

The victim was transported to Catholic Medical Center for treatment.

In an interview with police at the hospital, the victim said she was overcome by force near the mausoleum by a man she identified as Diole. She was attacked by Diole and attempted to run at some point, police said.

The victim said she was tackled by Diole and he put a knife to the back of her neck and continued to sexually assault her. She was able to free herself, grabbed her cell phone from her purse, and called 911, the report stated. She began screaming and accused Dole of putting a knife to her throat threatening to kill her — and began raping her again.

The embankment and area behind the mausoleum has been occupied by several homeless individuals and some camps that have been set up in the cemetery during the last two years. In June 2020, Manchester Fire Outreach found an injured woman down the embankment and rescued her.

Diole's public defender said the record reflects his client's struggles with homelessness. He said Diole was living at the cemetery.

Diole appeared via video in front of Judge Nicolosi in Hillsborough County Superior Court-North for a bail hearing. He was ordered held on preventative detention, and the defense requested an evidentiary hearing be scheduled.