Neither Demaris Sanchez or Alexandro Guevara will admit they hurt her two small children.
Demaris Sanchez in Hampden Superior Court Tuesday.SPRINGFIELD – A homeless mother and her boyfriend, accused of severely beating her two small children when staying at a motel in Westfield on public assistance, were each sentenced Tuesday to 2½ years in jail.
Each admitted guilt in permitting the children to be hurt but each said the other one caused the injuries, which were life-threatening for the then-2-year-old child.
Assistant District Attorney Patrick S. Sabbs said Demaris Sanchez, the 27-year-old mother, still claims her boyfriend Alexandro Guevara hurt the children.
Sabbs said Guevara claims Sanchez hurt the children. Neither was going to testify against the other if the cases went to trial, he said, citing factors that led to the plea agreement.
Sabbs said the two children, a now 3-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, appear to be healthy and are living in Puerto Rico with relatives.
The state Department of Children and Families has had custody since January 2010 and a procedure to terminate Sanchez’ parental rights is scheduled by the state.
When Sanchez brought then-2-year-old Jayden Lopez to Baystate Medical Center on Jan. 13, 2010, doctors found he had internal bleeding and needed immediate surgery.
Alexandro Guevara in Hampden Superior Court TuesdayThey found the little boy had a laceration of his liver and a bowel perforation, which would have caused a substantial risk of death if untreated.
Sanchez had 11-month-old Jayleen Sanchez with her at the hospital, and when doctors saw bruises on her face and examined her they found she had rib fractures and a slight fracture of her tibia.
Hospital personnel alerted the state Department of Children and Families, who then alerted Westfield police, Sabbs said.
Sabbs told Hampden Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Rup each was allowed to plead guilty to two counts of assault and battery on a child with injury under a provision in the law which said they are guilty because they did not protect the children from harm.
Sabbs said the evidence against Sanchez as “principal actor” in the abuse was stronger than against Guevara but there would have been difficulties in proof if the case went to trial.
He said Guevara “neglected his obligation as a human being to help the mother seek care for these children once they were harmed.”
Each will be on probation for two years after their sentence, Sanchez’ at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee and Guevara’s at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow.
Both have been in jail since their arrests so have 495 days credit toward their incarceration.
At the time of his arrest, Guevara told Westfield police he was homeless, and it appeared he had been staying without authorization in the motel room into which Sanchez had been placed by the state, authorities said.
Sanchez had lived in a room at the EconoLodge Inn for about six months when she and Guevara were arrested.
One veteran Westfield Police investigator described the children then as appearing to have been “punched like they were punching bags.”
Based on the extent of the injuries and the boy’s infection, investigators believe both children were victims of repeated physical abuse over a period of probably two weeks, Westfield detectives said at the time of the arrest.
Joseph A. Franco, Guevara’s lawyer, said his client did not hurt the children but recognizes he had an obligation under the law to take action when the children complained of pain.
State Criminal Offender Records Information data show Sanchez has an arrest record involving drugs and prostitution from April 2004 through September 2006.
Jeffrey S. Weisser, Sanchez’s lawyer, said the situation in the hotel room had spiraled out of control. He said Sanchez has a long history of intravenous drug addiction and because of her arrest has now been clean for a year for the first time in her adult life.
Weisser said Sanchez, a Springfield native with a sixth grade education, will need to do a lot of work to remain drug free when she is released from jail and is on probation.
“I’m fearful for her but hopeful at the same time,” he said.
Rup said it is necessary for the Probation Department to oversee Sanchez when she is released to help her “get away from this horrible drug abuse” that has plagued her through her adult life.
Guevara has a history of arrests for assault and battery in Springfield.
