A southwest suburban man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for beating his fiancee while wearing brass knuckles earlier this year in Lockport.
Robert Szymanski beat his fiancee while wearing brass knuckles, looped his belt around her neck and choked her on January 16, according to a statement from the Will County state’s attorney’s office.
Szymanski, 26, of the 1700 block of Hamilton in Lockport, pleaded guilty to domestic battery-related charges on June 22 and received the nine-year sentence Friday, prosecutors said.
Szymanski got angry at his fiancee after consuming alcohol and Xanax, which he did not have a prescription for, the statement said. He first threw her down onto the couch and choked her with his hands before punching her in the head and body while wearing brass knuckles.
At one point during the attack, Szymanski choked his fiancee unconscious and then choked her again with his belt after she awoke, the statement said. Throughout the attack he told her that she was his “property.”
Szymanski’s fiancee was able to get out of the house and had a relative bring her to the emergency room after he fell asleep, the statement said. After she received treatment she reported the attack to Lockport police, resulting in Szymanski’s arrest.
The victim suffered a fractured hand and serious bruising around her neck, head and body, the statement said.
“Robert Szymanski brutally attacked this woman during a drug-and-alcohol fueled rage,” Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said. “I applaud this woman for her courage in coming forward and cooperating with our Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit to hold him accountable for this act of uncontrolled violence.”
