Dartmouth Man Gets Six Years for Beating Girlfriend
DARTMOUTH — A 26-year-old Dartmouth man was convicted and sentenced this week for viciously beating his girlfriend in 2019, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
Skye Soares will spend six to seven and a half years in prison followed by three years on probation, after he was convicted Thursday of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury as well as witness intimidation.
The guilty verdict was handed down by a jury after a two-day trial in Fall River Superior Court, the D.A.'s office said.
Soares got into an argument with the victim, his then-girlfriend, at their apartment in January 2019 after she didn't let him see her phone.
The fight became physical when Soares shoved the victim onto a table, punching her in the face after she threatened to call the police, the D.A.'s office said.
He broke her nose and two bones in her cheek and eye socket, also splitting her nose and head open.
She ultimately required staples on the top of her head and stitches on her face and nose following the assault, according to the D.A.'s office.
After driving to a friend's home, the victim's friends asked her to call the police and go to the hospital.
The D.A.'s office said that out of fear of retaliation from Soares, the victim initially told hospital workers she had been jumped while walking home.
But she decided to go to the police the next morning, and reported that Soares had assaulted her.
Dartmouth police officers found that she was still bleeding the next morning, and called an ambulance to take her to the hospital a second time.
According to the office, after surgery on her shattered nose, the victim still has headaches and difficulty breathing due to the attack.
The jurors in Soares' case stayed in the courtroom for sentencing and offered comfort and support to the victim afterwards, in what the D.A.'s office called a "rare" occurance.
"I commend the victim for her courage in reporting this crime and for her perseverance in seeing this case through," Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn commented.
"I am very pleased the jury held the defendant accountable for the vicious beating inflicted upon the victim," he added. "No one should have to experience this type of brutality. A substantial state prison sentence was clearly warranted."
Soares will also be required to attend batterers counseling and anger management courses as well as wear a GPS monitoring bracelet upon his release from prison.