Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Micaela Duque, 22, appears at what turned out to be an emotional bail hearing Monday in Hillsborough County Superior Court South. She is charged with domestic violence-related offenses.

NASHUA – Several members of Micaela Duque’s family broke into tears in a Nashua courtroom Monday as Duque, 22, walked out sobbing after an emotional bail hearing.

Ultimately, the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney agreed Duque needs prompt mental health treatment – not days or weeks in jail.

Duque, pronounced “duke,” wore an orange Department of Corrections jumpsuit and sat between her attorney, Eleftheria Keans, and an interpreter who translated the proceedings of the roughly 30-minute bail hearing into Portuguese, Duque’s first language.

Duque was in court in connection with her arrest over the weekend, when she was initially charged with a misdemeanor count of domestic violence – simple assault, then later with one count each of domestic violence – criminal restraint and domestic violence – criminal threatening, both felonies.

She entered not guilty pleas and waived formal arraignment, leading to the bail hearing, which took place in Hillsborough County Superior Court-South.

Earlier Monday, Duque was arraigned in Nashua district court on the misdemeanor simple assault charge, and is scheduled to return Tuesday morning for a review hearing.

Both Keans and Assistant County Attorney Brett Harpster, the prosecutor, suggested a review of the Superior Court charges take place as part of the district court hearing.

Although Keans and Harpster agreed that Duque be jailed overnight on preventive detention, their goal, they told Judge Charles Temple, was to have Duque released after Tuesday’s hearing, so she can be evaluated for mental health treatment as soon as possible.

Temple agreed with the lawyers that overnight preventive detention is appropriate, “with an immediate mental health assessment” as soon as she is released.

He asked the attorneys to keep him informed on Tuesday as to the outcome of Duque’s district court hearing.

“My hope is that she not stay at the House of Corrections, but immediately gets the help she needs,” Temple said, referring to Valley Street jail.

As for the charges against Duque, they stem from two alleged incidents eight days apart. The first, which police said occurred March 7 and was the more serious of the two, wasn’t reported until they were investigating the second incident on Saturday.

Police said officers were called to a residence in the north end of town Saturday around noon after a person related to Duque reported she was “trying to hit her head against things” and “smashing items in the basement.”

When the relative “put his arms around” Duque in an effort to calm her down, police said she allegedly threw a perfume bottle at him, striking him in the face.

Duque, according to police, “admitted being mad at her boyfriend,” and told officers she didn’t realize the perfume bottle she allegedly threw hit the relative.

Police said officers, “during the course of their investigation” on Saturday, learned of the alleged March 7 incident, during which another man, later described as Duque’s boyfriend, accused her of threatening him with a knife.

Harpster, the prosecutor, said at the hearing that Duque allegedly “threatened him to the point he wasn’t able to leave the room, and through her alleged actions “attempted to prevent him from leaving.”

Harpster told Temple that before the hearing, he spoke “at length” with Duque’s family members, mainly “about her ongoing mental health issues.

“At times, she’s really good, but at other times, she’s out of control,” he said. “Hopefully, we can come up with a treatment program that benefits everyone.”

Temple, noting the emotional nature of the hearing, called the matter “one of those tragic, very difficult, cases in which mental health has collided directly with the judicial system.”

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