Church service assault settled with conviction

Published 6:41 pm Saturday, October 13, 2012

A 40-year-old Austin man will serve two years’ supervised probation for beating a woman during a March 11 church service.

Agwak Othow Omat, 40, pleaded guilty Friday in Mower County Court to domestic assault and was convicted of a gross misdemeanor.

Omat sat several rows behind the mother of his two children and several other children at Our Savior’s Lutheran in Austin and tried to remove his 4-year-old son from the service. The 4-year-old got upset, and the mother intervened. Omat then shoved the mother to the ground, punched her in the face and kicked her in the back before other churchgoers intervened, according to the court complaint.

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Though Omat left the church, he later discovered that police were looking for him, called authorities and allowed them to arrest him at his home. Omat must also serve 40 hours of community service.