A warring couple is asking a judge for permission to reunite at their home in The Villages.
Mary Kessler Westerlund, 65, was arrested Nov. 14 after she allegedly bit her husband on the hand during an argument at their home in the Village of Tierra Del Sol South. Stuart Westerlund, 72, admitted he retaliated and struck his wife in the face. The couple had been drinking and the argument started after he damaged their car after wrapping up a game of golf in Ocala. He was initially taken to the Lifestream Behavioral Center and was arrested upon his release.
As a result of her arrest, Mary Westerlund was banned from their home. At the time she was taken into custody and booked at the jail, she was wearing shorts, a T-shirt and bedroom slippers.
“She did not have her medications, walker, cane, cell phone, purse, credit cards, checkbook, clothes, toiletries or any other personal items,” her attorney wrote in an emergency motion for Mary Westerlund to re-enter the home.
The emergency order was granted and Mary Westerlund was allowed to briefly re-enter the home, accompanied by deputies, to retrieve the items. She had also asked to take the golf cart, but the judge did not allow that portion of the request, according to a document on file in Sumter County Court.
Now she wants to return to home, “to live peacefully with her husband.” He also wants her to come back.
“Mary Westerlund is disabled and cannot drive and needs help from her husband,” her attorney wrote in the motion for peaceful contact.
In addition, Stuart Westerlund is suffering from lung cancer and needs his wife to care for him, the attorney argued in the motion.
At the time of the couple’s altercation in November, a deputy noted in the arrest report that it was “hard to gather information” due to Mary Westerlund’s level of intoxication. In 2019, she was sentenced to 10 days in jail after her second drunk driving arrest within a five-year period.
