A second defendant has been convicted of brutally beating a Newark man in his apartment, leaving him in a coma for two weeks last year.
A jury convicted Gabriel Perez, 32, of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, aggravated assault, and evading.
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The victim’s roommate let Perez and Bruno Caetano, 38, into the apartment on New Jersey Railroad Avenue, where the two beat him on January 17, 2024, according to officials.
Caetano pled guilty to aggravated assault on March 17 and received a five-year term in state prison.
Caetano was booked into Northern State Prison in Newark on April 28 and must serve a minimum of four years and three months before becoming eligible for release.
It was unclear when Perez would be sentenced.
Both Caetano and Perez are from Newark. The prosecutor’s office stated that justice was served.
“(Perez) failed not only the victim, but society as a whole when he chose to enter the victim’s home and brutally beat him within inches of his life. This verdict sends a clear message: such violence will not be tolerated by our community,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“Considering the two weeks the victim spent in a coma, the long wait for justice, and the lifelong impact of his injuries, we hope this verdict brings him some measure of justice.”
