Former student who smeared her menstrual blood on her roommates things wants a clean criminal record
Brianna Brochu, the former University of Hartford student accused of smearing her menstrual blood on her roommate’s belongings, wants her criminal record wiped clean.
According to the Associated Press, Brochu wants to get into a program for nonviolent first-time offenders. If she completes that program, her criminal record will be wiped.
— Freshman busted for rubbing used tampons on Black roommate’s belongings —
A campaign of bullying
Brochu was arrested after she allegedly called her black roommate Chennel “Jazzy” Rowe “Jamaican Barbie” and embarked on a long-running campaign to get rid of her roommate by a series of disgusting behaviors, including putting Rowe’s toothbrush up her rectum.
Rowe said in a Facebook video that she and her roommate had a rocky relationship; Brochu would come in and turn off the lights if Rowe was working. However, it wasn’t until she started “getting sick” that things came to a head.
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“It started with throat pain,” she explained. “I thought maybe because it’s colder up here, I’m just catching a cold. After a month it got to the point where I had extreme throat pain that I couldn’t sleep, to the point where I couldn’t speak.”
“I’m spending my own money that my parents give me for food and groceries, the health centre on campus is not free – in fact they’re expensive,” she continued, describing how she had been prescribed antibiotics for the bacteria in her throat.
However, it wasn’t until Rowe finally moved out that she realized what her roommate had done, when she saw this post from Brochu on her Instagram: “Finally did it yo girl got rid of her roommate!! After 1 1/12 month of spitting in her coconut oil, putting moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubbing used tampons on her backpack, putting her toothbrush places where the sun doesn’t shine and so much more I can finally say goodbye Jamaican Barbie.”
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The defense: It wasn’t racism, just two girls not getting along
Brochu pleaded not guilty to charges of breach of peace and criminal mischief, despite the fact that Blavity reported the former freshman admitted to rubbing her body fluids on Rowe’s belongings to the police.
“This was blatant racism. The whole country saw it,” Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut NAACP chapter, said.
But Tom Stevens, Brochu’s attorney, said that it wasn’t racially-motivated. Instead, he claims, this was a simple case of two roommates who didn’t like each other.
“Why burden an 18-year-old with a criminal record when you have the belief that it was an isolated incident that will never happen again?” Stevens asked.
Brochu’s probation application hearing is set for March 12.
