Affidavit Alleges Silvio De Sousa Hit Man Who Lost Vision in One Eye
The legal allegations against Silvio De Sousa are getting worse. According to court documents, a man has reportedly lost vision in his left eye after an alleged altercation with De Sousa.
De Sousa is facing a charge of aggravated battery in connection with an alleged incident that occurred in the early morning hours. The aggravated battery charge is a level-5 or midlevel-severity felony.
An affidavit supporting the charge says that a man told Lawrence police that he heard a man — later identified as De Sousa — arguing with two women outside Brothers Bar & Grill, 1105 Massachusetts St., and he told De Sousa to “shut the (expletive) up.” The man said De Sousa then punched him with a closed right fist.
Also, according to the affidavit, the alleged victim found an officer to file the report at Lawrence’s hospital. Then, he was transferred to another area hospital for surgery to try to repair his left eye. But then in August, the mother said a doctor had confirmed that the man would not regain vision in his left eye despite multiple surgeries.
The man reportedly said he stepped outside the bar because he was hot, heard two women arguing with a man, whom the doorman and video surveillance later identified as De Sousa, and told the man to “shut the (expletive) up.” He said he fell to one knee when De Sousa then struck him in the eye with his fist. Also in the affidavit, the man’s mother later told police that he is mildly autistic and she was his legal guardian.
De Sousa spoke to detectives in mid-October and told them that while he and his friends were waiting for an Uber outside the bar, a man had become “verbally abusive” to one of De Sousa’s friends. De Sousa admitted to striking the man in the cheek. He told the detectives that the man did not fall when he was struck, and that when he left, the man wasn’t bleeding. Detectives told De Sousa that other witnesses’ accounts contradicted his statement; he said nothing further after that, according to the affidavit.
One day later, De Sousa left the team. De Sousa is scheduled to appear in court for a first appearance, where he will be formally charged, on Dec. 17.
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