Taking her place on the witness stand , a Florida court bailiff described being sexually assaulted at gunpoint the day she asked her husband for a divorce after his gambling had led them into debt . The 55-year-old woman tried to hold back tears as she spoke Tuesday of being held against her will by her ex-husband , Garrett Cunningham , 64 , also a Broward court deputy , though he is currently suspended . The Sun Sentinel reports that the couple met in 1983 while working as corrections officers in New York City 's Riker 's Island . Alleged assault : Garrett Cunningham , 64 , who worked as a court bailiff was accused by his ex-wife of handcuffing and shackling her before sexually assaulting her in 2013 . They married in 1990 , but the woman described how Cunningham 's gambling habits drove them into debt , costing them their house and his car . The woman said she tried to keep the couple afloat - even covering a $ 2,000 debt Cunningham owed - and stated that even after they separated , she would drive him to work . In September 2013 , she drove him to the Plantation motel on State Road 7 where he had been living and asked her to help carry groceries to his room , she said . She testified that once inside the room , Cunningham handcuffed her and shackled her legs , before pulling out a Glock pistol from under the mattress and pointing it at her . On the wall was a note listing everything Cunningham had done wrong in his life , while a second note on the bed had a list of questions about her personal and dating life , according to an arrest affidavit . What followed was an hours-long interrogation , where Cunningham berated his wife over who she was dating , she testified . County court : Cunningham and his ex-wife met as corrections officers at Riker 's Island in New York City and began working as bailiffs in 1999 . Cunningham demanded her phone and the password to unlock it . After reading texts sent between her and a man she had met online , he threw the phone to the floor and shot its screen , she said . 'He had this crazed look in his eye , ' she claimed on the stand . ' I just knew in that moment that I was not coming out of that hotel room alive . ' She said that after several hours Cunningham concluded she had to be punished , and used a vegetable to sodomize her . When she cried out , he pointed the gun at her head and told her that he would shoot her if she could n't stop screaming , she said . She testified that she cried as she held back screams as he continued his alleged assault . Cunningham was arrested days later . In December , he was suspended without pay by the Broward Sheriff 's Office . He is currently being tried on two counts of sexual battery , one count of false and one count of . His wife left the motel after allegedly being attacked , then showered and fell asleep , according to Cunningham 's attorney , who seized on her delay in reporting the assault . Defense attorney Gabriel Ermine said the woman fabricated the story of assault in hopes of keeping an inheritance she had recently received from her late parents . 'She wanted it all to herself , ' Ermine said in an opening statement . 'Now she 's using you to convict him so he does n't get any money . ' The woman called police after the assault and attempted to get Cunningham committed under Florida 's Baker Act , which allows for the involuntary examination of a person that poses threat of harm to self or others . She reported the alleged assault two days later , explaining to the jury that she had a difficult time coming to terms with what had happened at the hands of her husband . 'You did that to me ! ' she yelled at Cunningham in court . ' I did n't do that to you . I cared for you . '
The 55-year-old woman who worked for the Broward Sheriff 's Office with her ex-husband described being held against her will in the motel where he lived . The woman claimed 64-year-old Garrett Cunningham held a gun to her head while he interrogated her in September 2013 . He later 'punished ' her by sodomizing her with a vegetable , she said . She was released from jail on Monday after posting bond and is now suing him for sexual battery.