AUGUSTA — A 21-year-old Rhode Island man shot March 12 as he allegedly was kicking down a bedroom door to get to the 84-year-old woman hiding there made an initial court appearance Friday to hear the charges filed against him.

Dreaquan L. Foster, of Providence, initially was charged with elevated aggravated assault for the attack on the Sidney homeowner’s son who came to his mother’s rescue and shot Foster. Foster was released Wednesday from MaineGeneral Medical Center where he had been treated for what police described as a gunshot wound that went through his upper chest. On Friday, an amended complaint added the charges of aggravated criminal trespass for allegedly entering the home and committing assault as well as aggravated criminal mischief for damaging a window and door at Hewett’s home. All the charges are felonies, and the elevated aggravated assault charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. The other two carry five-year maximum sentences.

Judge Eric Walker read the charges and Foster, a tall, thin man who had no visible signs of injury on the video monitor, said, “I understand” to each. The judge set July 13 as the next court date in the case.

He rejected a bid from the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Alisa Ross, to increase Foster’s bail to $500,000 cash. Walker said he set the original bail amount of $100,000, and it would remain that. Walker said that amount could be posted by someone other than Foster on his behalf.

Conditions of bail include a prohibition on leaving Maine and on possessing dangerous weapons, including firearms; and a curfew of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. He also is banned from having direct or indirect contact with Audrey Hewett and Eric Hewett and from being within 1,000 feet of their residence.

In response to the Walker’s question about a prior criminal record, Ross said Foster has a prior conviction in Rhode Island for operating without a license.

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“I am not aware of any other convictions,” Ross said.

Foster is accused of seriously injuring Eric Hewett, who lives next door to his mother, Audrey Hewett, by striking him repeatedly on the head with a hammer. Hewett told police that as he moved from the kitchen into the living room calling out for the intruder to leave, a man “leapt from the adjoining bathroom and began to strike him repeatedly on the head” with what was later found to be a hammer.

Eric Hewett halted the attack by shooting the intruder, and then the two wrestled over the handgun. Hewett said he hung on to it with both hands, so the intruder was unable to get it.

Hewett spent several days at Maine Medical Center in Portland being treated for his head wounds. After his return home, he and his mother recounted the harrowing event.

Detective John Bourque, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, said in an affidavit that police believe Foster abandoned a vehicle stolen from Providence at mile 119 on the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 after it ran out of fuel. Police traced Adidas sneaker prints along I-95 to Audrey Hewett’s driveway.

The affidavit was filed March 15 at the Capital Judicial Center but not available until Friday, when Foster appeared via video from the Kennebec County jail, which is next door to the courthouse.

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According to Bourque, the day after the home invasion, another Lyons Road resident reported discovering that his home had been burglarized while he was out the previous day and a claw hammer was stolen from his basement along with a pair of gloves, one of which Audrey Hewett found while cleaning her bathroom after the break-in.

Investigators also found a footprint in the center of the bedroom door, which was cracked and split from being kicked, and the living room picture window was broken, police say, when Foster used the hammer to break it to get in to the home.

Aubrey Hewett told police a man knocked on her door, asking to use her telephone, and she told him to leave or try a neighbor’s house. Hewett then called her son’s home and told her daughter-in-law what was happening before retreating to her bedroom and hearing the front window being smashed and seeing the curtains blowing in the wind.

Her daughter-in-law called police from another phone to report the home invasion.

The affidavit also says that at one point in the intensive care unit at MaineGeneral Medical Center, Foster said, “I can’t remember,” when asked who he was.

“He finally advised maybe he suffered some sort of trauma and couldn’t remember anything, and added that he no longer wanted to speak to anyone,” according to the affidavit.

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Another officer then told Bourque that the suspect said he was Dreaquan Foster, and deputies confirmed it through a booking photo from Massachusetts State Police.

Bourque’s affidavit also says the abandoned 2007 Audi found along Interstate 95, which belonged to a Rhode Island woman, had been reported stolen from Providence about 2 p.m. March 12.

The break-in at Aubrey Hewett’s home was reported to police at 7:11 p.m. that day.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

 


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