Child molester sues for $70Gs over courtroom head-butt attack by fellow inmate

Strafford County inmate Josiah Davies leans in as he prepares to head-butt convicted child molester Christopher Elwell on Nov. 30, 2017, inside a Strafford County Superior Court. (Screen capture/WMUR video)

CONCORD - A convicted child sex offender who was head-butted in a Strafford County courtroom by another prisoner as TV cameras rolled has filed suit in U.S. District Court for $70,000 saying the county didn't properly protect him from cruel and unusual punishment.

Christopher Elwell, 30, who was sentenced to seven and a half to 15 years for molesting a four-year-old girl in Dover in June 2017, filed the civil rights complaint on Oct. 4, saying in part, "the plaintiff's federal constitutional rights under the 8th Amendment to be free from cruel and unusual punishment were violated ... when they failed to protect the plaintiff against physical and emotional injury."

Christopher Elwell, left, and Josiah Davies

Among the defendants in the case are Strafford County Sheriff David Dubois, Jail Supt. Chris Brackett, two sheriff's deputies and a court security officer.

Chief among Elwell's arguments are that jail personnel had assigned him to a protective custody unit, and that the inmate who attacked him, Josiah Davies, told the deputies not to seat the plaintiff next to him because of the nature of the plaintiffs charges.

The suit alleges defendants John Doe 2, 3 and 4 "ignored the threat of harm to the plaintiff and seated the plaintiff side-by-side to Josiah Davies after sentencing."

On Nov. 30, 2017, the day of the attack, Davies, who was in the courtroom for a separate hearing, waited until Elwell returned to the back of the courtroom after his sentencing, stood up, took a couple of quick steps toward Elwell and delivered two head-butts before a Strafford County Sheriff's Deputy was able to shove him aside and take him down.

The courtroom attack was captured by a WMUR cameraman.

Elwell's lawsuit alleges that "Because of the assault and subsequent media attention, the plaintiff has had to endure physical injury, protective custody, threats of harm and extortion and several months of humiliation, extreme mental and emotional stress and harm as well as fear for his safety."

The monetary relief Elwell is seeking breaks down to $20,000 in punitive damages "because the defendants violated his constitutional rights and failed to protect in violation of their own rules" and $50,000 in compensatory relief "for physical injury, threats of harm, extortion, several months of humiliation, extreme mental and emotional stress and harm, fear for his safety and media attention."

Davies, was sentenced last month to two to six years for forgery and three and a half to seven years for his assault on Elwell.

The Strafford County Sheriff's Office was not available for comment this morning.