Bellport Man Gets 16-Years In Prison For 'Horrific Trauma': DA

BELLPORT, NY — A Bellport man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for a horrific attack in which a woman was sexually assaulted with a foreign object and left bloodied and unconscious in a backyard, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Monday.

Edward Bell, 40, pleaded guilty in January to first-degree aggravated sexual abuse in January.

Police officers found the woman, a mother, lying on the ground covered in blood in the backyard of a home in North Bellport, and when police canvassed the area, they found Bell walking down the street with blood on his body and clothes back in June 2019, according to court filings and statements by the defendant at the guilty plea proceeding.

Bell admitted as part of his plea that he had sexually assaulted the woman with a foreign object, and as a result of the assault, she had to be placed in a medically-induced coma while she was treated for her injuries, Tierney's office said.

At the sentencing, the victim told the court through a prosecutor that "she suffers from anxiety and is always nervous as a result of the assault," Tierney's office said, adding, that she is "a mother whose children had to witness her recover both physically and emotionally from the impact of the violent crime."

Tierney said that "no amount of punishment will ever erase the horrific trauma that this victim and her family had to endure but at the very least, they can breathe a sigh of relief now that this defendant has received a significant jail sentence."

“The defendant will now have to account for his crime in prison and will be required to register as a sexual offender upon his release,” he added.

Bell will also have five years of post-release supervision after serving his prison sentence
and registering as a sex offender.