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CONYNGHAM TWP. — State police at Shickshinny arrested a Nanticoke man on allegations he violently raped a teenage girl he punched and suffocated with a pillow.
Joseph Paul Banesh, 27, address listed as West Church Street, admitted to sexually and physically assaulting the girl several times between April 19 and April 21, according to court records.
Banesh claims he “blacks-out” when he becomes angry and agitated and did not remember most of the offenses, court records say.
State police in court records say the girl was interviewed while she was at a hospital in Columbia County on Friday.
Graphic details of the interview are listed in the criminal complaint charging Banesh with two counts each of rape, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, simple assault and strangulation.
Banesh was arraigned by District Judge James Dixon in Hazle Township and jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail as he was deemed a danger to society.
According to the criminal complaint:
Troopers responded to a reported sexual assault at a residence in Conyngham Township on Friday.
The girl told troopers Banesh physically and sexually assaulted her several times from April 19 through April 21, the complaint says.
She claimed, the complaint says, Banesh punched her and choked her several times and suffocated her with a pillow during the assaults.
During an interview with troopers, Banesh said he moved into the residence in January 2022 and admitted to having sexual relations with the girl claiming the relationship was consensual. Banesh claimed he moved out of the residence but returned in January to help the girl’s father around the farm, the complaint says.
Banesh claimed he blacks-out and only remembered suffocating the girl with a pillow on April 19, according to the complaint.
State police in the complaint say Banesh admitted to physically assaulting and sexually assaulting the girl on April 21 and suffocating her with a pillow.