NC Pastor Asia Francis Charged With Assaulting Disabled 78-Year-Old Mother

Asia Francis, a 58-year-old pastor and former correction officer from Hertford, North Carolina, has been charged with two misdemeanors following an alleged assault on her 78-year-old mother, Marie Roberts, who has a disability. The charges, outlined in a Perquimans County warrant issued on October 2, include assault on an individual with a disability and domestic violence. The alleged incident occurred on September 30, during which Francis is accused of jumping on Roberts and punching her in the nose three times. The charging document describes how Roberts attempted to defend herself but was pulled to the floor and had her cell phone taken.

According to a Facebook post by Roberts’ daughter, Tamika Gordon, Francis moved their mother from New York to Hertford on August 17, despite family concerns. She convinced Roberts to give up the apartment she had lived in for 18 years. On September 29, Gordon called her mother and heard her whisper that she wanted to come home because “Asia is abusing me.” The next day, after Roberts expressed unhappiness, Francis allegedly became angry, claiming she was keeping their mother’s Social Security Disability (SSD) check for a hospital bed she had purchased and threatened to place her in a nursing home until Gordon could pick her up.

Later that day, after Roberts closed her bank account to ensure her SSD check would return to Social Security, Francis allegedly rushed in screaming about the closed account, punched her mother in the nose three times, and dragged her from the bed to the floor. Gordon wrote that her mother said blood was “everywhere.” Francis then wiped up the blood, hid the tissue in the bottom of a garbage bag, and took her phone, telling her “you did this to yourself,” according to the post.

Francis called their sister Twanda and her husband Steve, who arrived and helped lift Roberts. Gordon wrote that when Roberts tried to run to neighbors for help while screaming, Steve blocked her path and she fell again. Twanda eventually got the phone back long enough for Roberts to tell a cousin that “Asia punched me in my nose 3 times, and threw me on the floor.” Authorities were called, and police and EMS arrived while Gordon was on FaceTime with her mother, whose nose was still bleeding.

Gordon stated that Sheriff Murray was told by Francis that Roberts had injured herself, while Twanda and Steve claimed they did not see what happened. The case highlights the need for accountability and justice, reflecting the biblical call to “do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). It also underscores the importance of protecting vulnerable individuals, as Proverbs 31:8-9 reminds us to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for those who are falling into the hands of the powerful.”

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