North Huntingdon man's assault trial starts

Two teen daughters of a North Huntingdon man told a Westmoreland County jury Monday their father physically assaulted them as he stormed into a violent rage at their mother’s Latrobe home last year.

Samuel Farrier, 46, is on trial on a felony charge of strangulation and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and reckless endangerment in connection with a Feb. 10, 2018, incident in which his daughters, then ages 13 and 11, and a friend claim he barged into the family home, dragged two of the girls out from under a bed, hit one in the nose and choked another.

Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Calisti said Monday in her opening statement to jurors, the girls, who were home alone, hid under a bed and in a closet when Farrier barged into the house where he had once lived.

“He grabbed the girls’ legs and pulled them out from under the bed, then flips over the mattress and hits one in the head,” Calisti said. The older girl was grabbed by her throat and left gasping for breath. He took their phones and left the home, Calisti told jurors.

Defense attorney Tim Kinney said Farrier was falsely accused by his estranged wife and daughters.

Kinney claimed Farrier and his daughters did not respond well to the marriage breakup. He said, after moving out of the family home, Farrier became concerned about his children’s behavior and believed they were being left alone and unsupervised.

“You are going to hear lies in this case. He’s (Farrier) is going to tell you he’s being falsely accused by his daughters. These children were angry and being disrespectful to their father,” Kinney said.

Farrier, who is free on a $1,000 unsecured bond, is expected to testify when the trial continues Tuesday before Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger.