The injured woman told investigators her former boyfriend had waited outside for hours before entering with a key she thought was lost.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police arriving at a South 22nd Street home shortly before 8 a.m. Sept. 6 found a woman with a significant cut to her head, beginning an investigation that authorities say traced the injury to an alleged machete attack by her former boyfriend inside the residence.
The woman was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center after officers responded to the reported domestic violence incident in the 600 block of South 22nd Street. At the hospital, she gave investigators a longer account of what she said had happened through the night. That statement became the basis of reports describing an argument, repeated efforts by her former boyfriend to get inside, his alleged use of a key he had said was missing and a confrontation that left her with cuts to her head and hands. Robert Robbins, 40, was later charged with felonious assault with a deadly weapon.
The emergency response revealed the end of the alleged confrontation before investigators publicly described how it began. Officers found the woman inside the residence with a visible head injury, according to court-record accounts reported by Ohio news outlets. She identified Robbins as her ex-boyfriend and said he had cut her with a machete. Medics then transported her for treatment. Published reports described her injuries as not life-threatening, and no later medical update reviewed for this story indicated a more serious condition.
Investigators learned more after speaking with the woman at the hospital. She said Robbins had appeared at her home the previous evening after being gone for several days. The two argued outside, according to her account, but she eventually went into the house without allowing him to come inside. The publicly reported court information does not say what the argument was about, where Robbins had been during the preceding days or whether the two had any continuing living arrangement despite being described as former romantic partners.
What followed was not described as a brief exchange at the door. The woman told police that Robbins stayed outside for several hours and knocked repeatedly while asking to be let in. She did not open the door, according to the account attributed to court records. Eventually, she believed he had left. The records as reported do not specify exactly when she reached that conclusion or whether she saw him leave. By morning, she was sitting on a couch inside the home when police say Robbins appeared inside.
According to investigators, Robbins entered using a key the woman believed was no longer available to him because he had previously said it was lost. Police allege he was angry that she had refused to let him inside. That sequence is important because the woman’s account describes an apparent end to the confrontation outside followed by an unexpected encounter inside. Authorities have not publicly explained when Robbins retained the key or whether there was any separate dispute over his right to access the residence.
The woman said Robbins then approached with a machete that had been held behind his back, according to the reported filings. Police allege he got on top of her and used the machete to cut her hair while she struggled beneath him. During the encounter, she suffered a cut to the top of her head and cuts to her hand or hands. The available records do not give a detailed medical diagnosis, and the restrained description released through reporting is sufficient to establish the nature of the alleged injuries without speculating about their severity.
Robbins’ arrest led to one reported criminal count: felonious assault with a deadly weapon. Under Ohio law, felonious assault includes knowingly causing or attempting to cause physical harm to another person by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance. The statute generally classifies that conduct as a second-degree felony. Filing the charge establishes the accusation the state is pursuing at this stage; it does not establish that Robbins committed the acts described by the woman or that each allegation will ultimately be proved.
At an arraignment following his arrest, a judge set Robbins’ bond at $50,000. The court also imposed restrictions that would govern his conduct if he were released. Published reports said those conditions prohibited contact with the woman, possession of a firearm and consumption of drugs or alcohol. Such conditions are preventive measures used while a criminal case is pending. They should not be confused with punishment following a conviction, and the reports reviewed for this story did not establish any conviction.
The location of the initial proceedings also reflects the early stage of a felony case. Ohio municipal courts conduct arraignments and may hold preliminary hearings in felony matters. The Franklin County Municipal Court clerk describes separate arraignment procedures for defendants who are in custody and those who are not, including proceedings involving newly filed felony cases. If prosecutors continue with a felony prosecution, later proceedings can move through the court system as required by Ohio law. No later procedural step is being attributed to Robbins without a supporting court record.
The woman’s account contains several facts investigators considered important but leaves other questions unanswered. Publicly available reporting does not say whether officers recovered the machete, whether anyone else witnessed the encounter, whether security video existed or whether Robbins made a statement to investigators about the accusation. The reports also do not identify the woman, and her identity is not necessary to report the pending case. No direct quotation from her has been included because the reviewed source material provides her account largely through police and court-record paraphrases.
The description of events therefore rests primarily on what investigators say the woman reported after she was found injured and taken for treatment. Her statement gives the alleged sequence: Robbins returned after an absence, the two argued, she went inside, he remained outside asking for entry, she eventually believed he was gone, and police say he then used the supposedly lost key to get inside. The violent confrontation alleged by authorities followed that entry. Those claims can be challenged and tested as the criminal case proceeds.
The case now turns on what happens after the initial accusation rather than on any new fact about the Sept. 6 encounter. Publicly accessible reporting reviewed for this story did not establish a later court resolution, leaving the allegations against Robbins unresolved and subject to the ordinary criminal process.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 21, 2026.