An Ohio man is accused of attacking his father’s girlfriend and setting her on fire, causing the woman to leap to safety out of an upper floor of their home.
In body camera footage obtained by Law&Crime, Robbi Davon Robinson, 23, told a police officer he did not know what happened, but documents alleged that he had struck the victim in the face, knocking out at least two of her teeth.
He is charged with aggravated arson and felonious assault in Fairfield Township.
In the body camera footage, a responding officer asked who was in the home. Robinson said his “stepmother.”
“Your stepmother jumped out the back,” the officer said.
“Oh, she did?” said Robinson.
Robbi Davon Robinson set his father’s girlfriend, Brenda Scott, on fire, police said. (Mugshot: Butler County Jail)
The officer had previously encountered the woman in a redacted portion of the footage. Sounding clearly distressed in this blocked-out portion of the visuals, she said she had to breathe. She said that “he” — ostensibly defendant Robinson — knocked her teeth out.
Court documents do not indicate a motive but state that Robinson set his father’s girlfriend on fire, “causing severe burns and injuries.” This happened in an upstairs bedroom of their home on Thursday in the 2600 block of Arroyo Ridge.
“Defendant told paramedics and arriving law enforcement that the Defendant lit her on fire in the home,” documents stated.
An officer identified the woman as Brenda Scott, 50. A medical helicopter flew her out to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where remains in critical condition, according to cops in a press statement.
“The investigation revealed that SCOTT was in a bedroom when ROBINSON assaulted her and then set her on fire,” officers wrote. “SCOTT got out of the house through a second-story window and into the backyard where a neighbor found her and called for help.”
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Dennis Williams, a neighbor, told WXIX he heard his dogs barking and saw smoke emerging from the second-floor window. The outlet described this as essentially being a third floor because the basement foundation wall was exposed. Williams noted black marks on the exterior wall below the window, and he suggested that’s from where she brushed the building while falling.
When he encountered the woman, he described her as appearing to be covered in dust. Her immediate reaction was, “He set me on fire,” Williams said.
The investigation is ongoing. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Robinson remains in the Butler County Jail as of Monday on $200,000 bond.
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