Courts. (Credit: Flickr/Creative Commons)
Brian C. Hays, of the 500 block of Bridge Road, gave a full confession at the time of his arrest.
A Skippack Township man who brutally beat a woman with a meat mallet and hammer over the course of three days in his home has been sentenced to a maximum 15 years in prison.
Brian C. Hays, 52, of the 500 block of Bridge Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 15 to 30 years after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated assault, strangulation, false imprisonment, terroristic threats and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the June 2023 assault.
“This is a horrific domestic case. What he put this woman through over the course of three days, from beating her with a golf club and a meat mallet, strangling her and reviving her by pouring hot sauce into her eyes, is horrific and inhumane,” said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Eileen Glenning, according to The Mercury. “Of the cases I’ve handled in my career this is one of the most horrific cases of domestic violence that I have seen. This woman went through three days of terror and torture, going through repeated beatings and strangulation. It is horrific and heinous.”
Per the report, Hays was ordered to have no contact with the woman he assaulted and must complete a domestic violence counseling program as part of the sentence.
Court documents show Hays gave a full confession at the time of his arrest.
When police asked Hays if the victim was scared for her life he stated, “(expletive) yea, she was definitely scared,” according to court documents.
Police were alerted to the incident Wednesday morning when an employee who worked for the victim contacted Pennsylvania State Police expressing concern that their boss was in danger. The employee told police they had called the victim and described them as incoherent. Afterwards, the employee went to the victim’s residence, where they encountered Hays, who allegedly stated that he had assaulted the woman, according to charging documents.
Troopers arriving at the scene encountered Hays at the front of the property and detained him. Police said they located the victim lying nude on a bed in the master bedroom, suffering from a multitude of injuries including her eyes being swollen shut and her body being covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises.
Police said communication with the victim was extremely difficult, however she indicated that Hays had been torturing her for what she thought was three days, including allegedly striking her with a meat mallet, a meat cleaver, a golf club, and his hands and fist. Due to the extent of the victim’s injuries, she was airlifted to a hospital in Philadelphia, where she was placed in critical condition and a chest tube was inserted, police said.
The criminal complaint states that medical staff were investigating a possible collapsed lung and spleen injuries, and indicated the victim’s breathing and speech were both labored. Ligature marks were observed on the victim’s ankles, later determined to have come from handcuffs, and red marks were observed on the victim’s neck, later determined to have come from the sharp end of a shovel, police said.
The victim reiterated at the hospital that her injuries were caused by Hays, according to the complaint.
Investigators interviewed Hays on Wednesday afternoon, at which point he stated that he and his wife had an argument about her alleged infidelity around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, adding that between that time and 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, he continued to question and assault his her, police said. Hays allegedly confessed to punching the victim in the face at least 25 times as well as repeatedly banging her head into the ground and kicking her, along with choking her with a shovel and hitting her with various other items, according to the complaint.
Hays told police he placed handcuffs on the victim’s hand and feet to prevent her from escaping, and at some point, the victim stopped responding to him and he had to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation, police said. Despite needing to be resuscitated, Hays said he continued to assault the victim, according to the complaint.
As the interview continued, Hays said he attempted to speak to the victim about not pressing charges, but she wasn’t making any sense and he believed he had hit her too many times for her to properly communicate, police said. Hays then attempted to clean and shower the victim because “he was concerned with how she looked,” however he added that he didn’t call 911 because he was concerned about himself, according to police.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
