New Bedford, Mass. – Authorities have arrested a man accused of biting off the lip and ear of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in attacks that left her so mutilated doctors could not fully repair the damage.
Bryan James, 34, put up a brief struggle Wednesday after police stopped his vehicle to arrest him and the girl’s mother, Jessica Silveira, 26, police said.
The couple was expected to be arraigned today. James is charged with assault and battery upon a child causing substantial bodily injuries; Silveira is charged with permitting substantial injuries to a child under 14 and intimidation of a witness.
The little girl suffered bites in which she lost the upper part of her lip, and her ear was so mutilated that surgery could not return it to its natural state. She also suffered other human bites on her body, police Capt. Richard Spirlet said.
“It was malicious, mayhem,” Spirlet said.
Police think the biting attacks began in January and continued until April.
The girl and her older brother are now in state custody.
