Kelly Ferraro was outside warming up her car on a snowy morning in December 2020 when she spotted her neighbor’s live-in boyfriend yelling on the steps outside of his Trafford home. She instantly knew something as wrong, she told a Westmoreland County jury Tuesday.
“Her boyfriend was standing on the front steps and yelled down for me to get in the house … or I’ll kill you,” Ferraro said during the first day of the aggravated assault trial of Alfred Tournay III. “I went into the house then he comes kicking the door violently until he’s able to kick in the door. Within seconds he is in my house.”
Prosecutors said Tournay, 55, physically assaulted Ferraro, 64, and her then 70-year-old husband, William, just minutes after he brutally attacked his girlfriend at their home across the street. Ferraro testified Tournay punched her in the face and used her husband’s cane to hit him in the head and stab his chest during the morning attack.
Tournay’s girlfriend, Dana Sikora, 53, testified she awoke the morning of Dec. 17 to find Tournay screaming as he smashed through her locked bedroom door and repeatedly kicked her in the face. She told jurors the attack was unprovoked and that Tournay claimed she was responsible for his dog’s injuries, although they did not have any pets at their Trafford home.
Tournay is charged with 15 offenses, including multiple counts of aggravated assault in addition to simple assault, burglary, trespassing, terroristic threats and criminal mischief in connection with the attacks against Sikora and the Ferraros.
“He’s like the Tasmanian Devil over there and he wouldn’t stop,” said Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr in his opening statement to the jury. “He viciously assaulted three different people that day.”
Defense attorney Brian Aston conceded Tournay attacked his girlfriend and neighbors but suggested the charges against his client did not adequately reflect what he said was less serious offenses.
“This trial is not about guilt or innocence. This trial is about degree of guilt,” Aston said. “Is he over charged by the government? We submit absolutely.”
Sikora and Kelly Ferraro testified Tuesday. Ferraro’s husband, who retired as Westmoreland County’s chief assessor in 2022, died last summer.
Tournay did not testify on his behalf and the defense rested its case without calling any witnesses.
Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears said jurors are expected to hear closing arguments and begin deliberations when the trial reconvenes Wednesday.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .