Woman charged after New Bedford homeless man kicked to death

Nina Busnengo, who was sleeping at a local car wash, allegedly told investigators that she kicked the victim in the head twice when she found him sleeping with her blanket.

Hours before a man died in New Bedford, a Mattapoisett woman allegedly stomped on his head repeatedly after she found him sleeping with a blanket she had left at a New Bedford car wash Monday night, prosecutors say.

Stephen Oswald, 58, died Tuesday after police and emergency medical services responded to a report of the injured man around 3:40 a.m. in front of Seabra Foods on Rockdale Avenue, according to court records. Oswald had a laceration to his head; he was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.

Nina Busnengo, 31, is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and unarmed robbery. She pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was ordered held without bail in Bristol County House of Correction Thursday, court records show.

The incident on Monday night

Investigators said the incident took place behind a car wash on the corner of Rockdale Avenue and Orchard Street in New Bedford, where they located a red stain near a stairwell along the outside of an adjacent building.

Court records said police found a trail of red stains that led to the bench where Oswald died.

A witness told police that a woman later identified as Busnengo had an argument with Oswald just before 10 p.m. Monday night. She was located and questioned by police, where she admitted to sleeping at the car wash, according to a police complaint filed in court.

Busnengo told police that she had left all her belongings at the car wash on Monday, and when she returned that evening, she found Oswald sleeping with her blanket.

“Busnengo stated that she kicked Oswald in the head twice, took the blanket and left. Later on, Nina noticed that there was blood on her person and returned to the fire escape and discovered Oswald was no longer there,” the police complaint aid.

She then found him on the bench outside Seabra Foods and allegedly stole his cell phone to make a call for a ride, Busnengo told police.

Busnengo told police that she saw him unconscious with blood on his hands and face but said “that her stuff had nothing to do with Oswald bleeding and that she was not trying to kill anybody,” according to the police report.

Busnengo will appear in court next week. A lawyer for her declined to comment on the case.