STARKE— Benjamin Ozer Benoit will spend the next 17 months in prison after pleading to felony battery-repeat offender on December 13.
Starke police arrested the 42-year-old Church Street resident on August 20 after a woman said he attacked her with a guitar.
According to an arrest report, police found the woman on the floor covered in blood and called emergency medical services for assistance.
According to police, Benoit told officers, “She came at me with a knife, so I beat her up.” The defendant admitted to striking the woman several times in the head with a wooden guitar. He also claimed the woman threw a mirror at him, injuring his toe.
While awaiting medical care, the victim told police the two argued over the woman inviting a friend to the residence. Police found a steak knife in a bedroom trash can with no signs of blood, a broken wooden guitar with blood, and a broken mirror.
The defendant’s prior convictions include DUI, making written threats to kill or do bodily injury, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, domestic battery, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, battery, sale of a controlled substance, possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis, and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
