Prosecutors say a man held his girlfriend against her will in his St. Paul apartment, during which he shaved her head and poured boiling water on her.

Jabari Quentin Junior, 22, was charged Friday with first-degree assault and kidnapping.

St. Paul Police responded to a hospital’s burn unit on Wednesday morning and were told that Metro Transit police officers transported a 19-year-old woman from the West Side. She had severe, oozing burns to her face, arms and torso. Her face was swollen and she couldn’t open one of her eyes. She had a stab wound to her leg.

Jabari Junior (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office)

The criminal complaint gives the following information from prosecutors:

The woman reported she’d gone to the apartment of her boyfriend, Junior, on Wabasha Street near Fillmore Avenue on Monday. She planned on staying the night, but they argued because she was talking to other men. Junior grabbed a hair clipper, held his girlfriend against the bed and shaved her head.

Junior told her “if she wanted to talk to other men he was going to make her look like one,” the complaint said of the woman’s report. After he poured boiling water from a pot onto her, she tried to leave, but he pinned her to the bed. He had a butcher knife in one hand and choked her with the other. She fought back as she felt she was going to lose consciousness. Junior stabbed her leg, the woman said.

Junior’s bathroom was near the door and the woman tried to escape by pretending to use the bathroom, but he “followed her every move.”

On Tuesday, the woman had plans to leave for Chicago, but Junior tore up her bus ticket and told her she wasn’t going anywhere. She said she tried to leave again and he threw another pot of boiling water on her.

The woman woke Wednesday to Junior again pouring boing water on her. Junior walked her to a nearby bus stop, called 911 and handed her the phone. She said he told her to lie about her injuries and threatened to hurt her worse if she told the truth. He ran back to his apartment.

Police obtained a search warrant for Junior’s apartment, the department’s SWAT unit responded to the area, and police said Junior was arrested without incident Wednesday. During the search of Junior’s apartment, police found an electric razor with fresh hair clippings and pots matching the ones his girlfriend described.

Investigators talked to Junior, who described the woman as a “friend with benefits.”

He reported she’d been at his apartment because she was running from another man she got into a fight with. Junior said the woman tried to blame him for her injuries when she came over. He said she let him use her phone, then he discovered she was texting other guys and they argued while he was cooking. They tussled, she “got into his face,” Junior “pushed her a little and she scratched his face,” the complaint said of what he told police.

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The woman held something behind her back, which Junior thought was a knife or fork, and he threw a pot of water into the air. He said he didn’t intend for it to land on her, but it did. He put ice on her injuries on Monday and Tuesday, and called an ambulance Wednesday morning.

Junior said he’d cut “a little bit” of the woman’s hair and she shaved the rest of it. He also told police that she hadn’t tried to leave before Wednesday.

Junior reported he’d put a knife in his pocket for self-defense since the woman had a fork, forgot it was there and “accidentally stabbed” her when tending to her injuries.

Junior remained jailed Friday and an attorney wasn’t immediately listed for him in his court file.

Domestic violence help

Help is available 24/7 through the Minnesota Day One hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.