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	Norwalk Pastor Issued Protective Order for Assault By John Nickerson Stamford Advocate January 4, 2010 http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/policereports/article/Norwalk-pastor-issued-protective-order-for-assault-308860.php NORWALK -- A local pastor charged in Queens, N.Y., with rape was issued a protective order at the Norwalk courthouse Monday following his arrest Thursday for allegedly beating his teenaged daughter. Philip Joubert, 48, of 21 Lexington Ave., Norwalk, who was released on $350,000 bond in the New York City case, turned himself over to Norwalk police Thursday on charges of third-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor and was released after posting $5,000 bond. At his appearance at state Superior Court in Norwalk, Judge Bruce Hudock issued Joubert, pastor of the New Light Missionary Baptist Church, 22 Lexington Ave., Norwalk, a protective order which prohibits him from contacting, assaulting or intimidating five people whose names have been marked out of his court file. Joubert's defense attorney, Phillip Russell, said his client intends to plead not guilty when he returns to court to face the Norwalk charges Jan. 13. Russell said Joubert is about to face an "acrimonious" divorce that is at the heart of the accusations in Norwalk and New York. "He has denied what he is accused of," Russell said, adding that he has already pleaded not guilty to the New York charges and has cooperated with investigators there. Although he was arrested in New York, Russell said Joubert has not been indicted by a grand jury there. Joubert's Norwalk charges stem from a Nov. 14 incident where Joubert came home to his apartment and became enraged because it was messy. According to Gala, Joubert's wife of 23 years who filed for divorce in September, her husband became angry when he saw some papers sitting on a notebook and asked his daughter to pick them up, according to his two-page arrest affidavit. When the girl refused, saying she would pick them up after the television program she was watching was over, Joubert became enraged and punched her in the face, knocking her off the couch, the affidavit said. He then hit her three more times with a closed fist on her back, the affidavit said. "My house is always on edge when Phillip is around. He is verbally and emotionally abusive 95 percent of the time. We have recently learned to ignore much of his ranting and only pay attention to what we think is relevant," Gala Joubert wrote in her statement to police. Mrs. Joubert said she did not call police immediately because she said she was afraid of her husband's reaction. Mrs. Joubert went to police three days later because her husband had left the country for one week and she "knew it would be safe to come in," the statement said. New York police arrested Joubert on a first-degree sexual assault charge when he returned home from Israel on Nov. 24 and held on $350,000 bond. -- Staff Writer John Nickerson can be reached at john.nickerson@scni.com or 964-2320.
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