Robert Yowell, 51, was bound over to Fifth District Court for trial by Pahrump Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill last Wednesday after his preliminary hearing on charges of robbery, first-degree kidnapping and sexual assault, all with the use of a deadly weapon.

Yowell's arraignment has been scheduled for 10 a.m., Oct. 10.

The 36-year-old victim, who had been living in Pahrump for only a week, testified she was first approached by Yowell as she was getting out of her car in front of the Wal-Mart store July 16, when he asked her for the time. She reached in her car and checked the time on her cell phone, it was 9:23 p.m. The victim said Yowell was dirty and appeared very intoxicated.

After doing some shopping, the victim recounted a nightmarish incident, according to court testimony. She drove between the Albertson's Supermarket and Wal-Mart out the back exit to Dahlia Street. A man ran in front of her car from left to right. She thought she struck him and rolled down her passenger window and asked if he was all right.

Instead, the victim said, the man jumped in the car and pulled out a foldable knife with a blade three to four inches long.

"He told me to drive. I was kind of in hysterics," she said.

Yowell waved the knife repeatedly in front of her face, nicking her index finger, she testified. When public defender Tom Gibson questioned the victim's description of the knife, she testified, "It was being waved in my face so I had a pretty good look at it."

When the victim told Yowell he could have her purse, jewelry or anything else of value, he became more agitated.

At Yowell's instructions, the victim said she drove west on Basin Avenue to Leslie Street, then turned north on Leslie and drove north of Harris Farm Road. At that point, she was instructed to drive into the desert.

After she was told to get out of the car, the victim thought Yowell would take the vehicle and leave her there. The victim began sobbing on the stand as she described how Yowell, instead, started hitting her in the back of the head and told her to take off her shirt, then her pants.

After the assault Yowell left her there with her car. The victim found her cellular phone, called 911 and was directed to meet Nye County sheriff's deputies at the Rebel convenience store on Basin Road and Highway 160.

The victim was taken to Desert View Regional Medical Center, but she testified, "They couldn't treat me there, they weren't prepared." So she was driven by a friend to University Medical Center in Las Vegas for an examination.

Gibson said there was no other corroborating evidence from UMC that a rape had occurred. He also tried to argue there were serious issues with identifying the defendant in the dark.

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett countered that the victim spent approximately three hours with the defendant, so she had plenty of time to identify him. She also testified she felt an object penetrate her vagina.

Beckett said Yowell faces the possibility of two consecutive life sentences for sexual assault with use of a deadly weapon, another two consecutive life terms for first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon and two consecutive 15-year sentences for robbery with use of a deadly weapon.