Falmouth man convicted in 2014 of assault on girlfriend allowed to change name

BARNSTABLE — A probate and family court judge has ruled that Justin Curtis Mustafa, 33, of East Falmouth, who was convicted in 2014 and jailed for six years for assaulting a girlfriend, can change his name to Justin Curtis.

In court records in Barnstable Probate and Family Court, the woman objected to the name change on Oct. 10, 2022, stating that Curtis’ criminality was associated with his original name, and allowing him to change his name posed a danger to the community.

The man's "violent and aggressive behavior is associated with his name of Justin Curtis Mustafa and should remain the same for the safety of any future victims as well as the community," wrote Gabriela Rowland in court records. The Times does not typically name victims of crime, but Rowland has become a spokeswoman for domestic violence awareness.

"I kind of felt like this decision to allow his name change was a system fail," said Rowland in a phone interview with the Times on Friday.

Curtis, who was 24 at the time, was convicted in 2014 in Falmouth District Court on four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count each of assault and battery, intimidating a witness and malicious destruction of property worth less than $250. Curtis forcibly injected the woman with heroin, struck her with a belt and his hands, threatened her and threw her cellphone out the window of a moving car. He was sentenced to six years in jail.

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Justin Curtis was born in Falmouth on May 9, 1989, as Justin Curtis Mustafa. His last name, Mustafa, came from his mother’s side of the family, who were Sunni Muslims, according to court documents. Mustafa is a name of Arabic-Islamic origin and is one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad.

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Curtis converted to Christianity several years ago and identifies as a Protestant Christian. He said he wanted to remove his last name because of its Islamic origins, which he says conflict with his Christian beliefs. On Dec. 13 Justice Angela Ordoñez ruled Curtis could change his name.

In her ruling, she stated that Curtis' crimes do not rise to the level of severity generally required to deny a name change: kidnapping or first-degree murder. He has also not been charged with a crime since 2014.

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What are the state guidelines for changing your name?

According to state guidelines, a person over 18 can change their name by filing for a change of name, which will be granted as long as it is not "inconsistent with public interests," for example, pretending to be someone else or hiding your criminal record. Ordoñez found that Curtis was not attempting to hide his name change since he filed the action in a public manner and published his name change citation in the Cape Cod Times on Sept. 22.

Rowland, who submitted an affidavit of objection, wrote that Curtis abused her in a “sexually heinous way” for six consecutive days in 2013. He hit her, forcibly injected her with heroin, and forced her to perform sexual acts on his dog, and raped her, she wrote. Rowland objected to Curtis’ name change because “other women deserve to know what he has done in his past.” She said a name change was especially dangerous to anyone who wanted to engage in a romantic relationship with him.

In the interview on Friday, Rowland reiterated her perspective that Curtis poses a threat to the public, as well as anyone he potentially may engage in a relationship with, especially if his changed name allows him to distance himself from his violent past.

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Serial abusers using their same name more common, said one domestic violence prevention advocate

Lysetta Hurge-Putnam, executive director of Independence House, Inc., a Cape-based resource, counseling, and advocacy center to address and prevent domestic and sexual violence, said that in her work she doesn't see many instances where a perpetrator of domestic violence would change their name to hide a criminal past.

It's more often that she deals with "serial abusers," people who harm several different partners under the same name, she said. However, what's important in this situation is that Rowland was speaking up for what she felt was right.

"I don't think it's wrong or right, what's important to me as someone that works with survivors is that she is maybe pointing out a flaw in our system, but also asserting her right as someone that has been horrendously abused, to state her objection, she's empowered to do that," said Hurge-Putnam.

Contact Asad Jung at ajung@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @asadjungcct.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Falmouth man allowed to change his last name despite criminal past