Brockton Man Gets 43 Years for Rape, Assault

From the Plymouth County District Attorney's offce

BROCKTON, MA — A Brockton man has been sentenced to serve 43 years to life in State Prison for the brutal rape and beating of a city woman, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced Friday.

On October 5, 2016, after a three-day trial, a Plymouth County jury deliberated 12 hours before finding Tony Bunton. 53. guilty rape (subsequent offense), armed assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery with serious bodily injury and as a habitual offender. Bunton will serve his sentence at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole

“Just two years after Mr. Bunton served a 24-year sentence for a similar crime, he raped and beat the victim in this case and left her for dead,” Cruz said in a statement. “Mr. Bunton has a lengthy history of sexual assaults and violence against women and poses a danger to society. I am pleased that the public will be safe from the violent actions of Mr. Bunton for at least the next 43 years.”

On Dec. 10, 2014, at approximately 9 p.m., Brockton Police received a 911 call from an ambulance driving in the vicinity of North Montello St. who reported a female victim staggering in the street, bleeding heavily from her head. The woman was dressed only in a shirt and told emergency medical personnel that she had been raped and struck with a baseball bat by a man she had known as “Tony.”

Brockton Police and State Police detectives assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office began their investigation. They discovered a reddish brown fluid stain, later found to be positive for human blood, on the front porch at #283 and #282 North Montello St. A Brockton Police K-9 tracked to a lot near Brockton Tire at #311 North Montello St. where police discovered a pair of women’s black pants turned inside out, a pair of black women’s shoes, a black knit men’s winter hat and some keys.

As part of their investigation, police viewed video surveillance from Brockton Tire that showed the victim and a man, later positively identified as Tony Bunton, walk behind the tire company building. Shortly after, the victim appeared running out of the parking lot without pants on and Bunton emerged carrying an object consistent with a baseball bat.

Badly beaten, the victim approached two homes next door to Brockton Tire for help before flagging down and collapsing in front of an ambulance operator who was driving down the street. The victim was transported to Brockton Hospital before being transferred to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She required multiple brain surgeries and lengthy hospital treatment for her injuries.

On December 13, 2014, after police conducted several interviews, including one with the victim from her hospital bed in which she identified Bunton as her attacker, Bunton was arrested at his Brockton apartment.

After the trial concluded, Bunton was tried on a habitual offender indictment and subsequent rape charge, subjecting him to criminal penalty enhancements on the Rape charge he was found guilty of earlier today. The same jury presided over this trial, where four witnesses testified that Bunton was the same person previously convicted of Rape. The jury found Bunton guilty on those charges as well.

Bunton still faces six counts of possession of child pornography after State Police conducting a search warrant found images on Bunton’s cell phone of children who appeared to be under the age of 15. He is scheduled to go to trial on those charges in the coming months.

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