SALEM, Mass. — A man pleaded guilty Thursday to violently beating and stabbing a woman in the eye after breaking into her Salem apartment last summer.
"If you lost your eye, would 12 years be enough?" said Sarah Turner after court.
The 30-year-old also suffered a fractured jaw and ultimately lost all of her teeth and her eye.
"Simple things that everybody here takes for granted, like blinking your eye is now something that affects me. My eye is itchy and the whole side of my face has nerve damage now so even a strong wind blowing on my face affects me,” said Sarah, as tears streamed down her face.
Peter Turco, 40, was released from jail just four days before the attack. Turner's older sister, Shannon, said that Turco was a friend of Sarah's ex-boyfriend. The pair were both remembers of a jail house gang called "Crazy White Boyz," according to a police affidavit.
"If you lost your eye, would 12 years be enough?" Sarah Turner survived violent home invasion and today her attacker pleaded guilty. #salem pic.twitter.com/DH2Cqdmbnd
— Crystal Haynes (@crystalhaynes) May 11, 2017
Turco’s defense attorney apologized on his behalf in court, saying that he remembers very little because he was high at the time.
"He had been on a three or four-day drug bender and he was highly intoxicated, he doesn’t remember much of what happened that day,” said Turco’s attorney.
The officer that arrived at Sarah’s apartment after the attack found Sarah covered is blood from head to toe.
"I just really hope that he would never harm another person like this again,” said Sarah.
Turco was sentenced to 12 to 13 years for the beating and another five years of probation to be served after.
RELATED:
Cox Media Group
