VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach man was sentenced this week to 21 years behind bars for beating a woman using a brick.
Bobby Bland, 63, pleaded guilty in February.
The attack happened on Oct. 23, 2023, less than a week after the victim evicted Bland from her home in the Witchduck area of Virginia Beach.
The commonwealth’s attorney says the victim woke up to find Bland breaking the sliding glass door with a brick. He hit her in the head with the brick, then hit her 10-15 more times while yelling that he was going to kill her.
Jessica Randolph and her son J’Mari Randolph lived next door and heard the victim's cries for help.
“I seen her phone get thrown on the ground,” said J’Mari. “It just got quiet, and I’m just like ‘I’m going to put a stop to it.’ I walked around the car, and I seen Bobby hitting her with a brick, so I told him to stop…”
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But Randolph said he wouldn’t stop beating the woman.
“I was like, ‘You have to get off of her. This isn’t right.’ And then he finally listened once I pulled my firearm out.”
Randolph held Bland at gunpoint until police arrived.
Before that, his mother called 9-1-1. Once she realized her son had Bland under control, she helped the victim until first responders could treat her.
The woman survived, but according to the commonwealth’s attorney, she suffered lacerations to her head, a brain bleed, and injuries to her fingers.
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The Randolphs say they didn’t know their neighbor well before that October night, but Jessica added, “I can say this incident has brought us closer together."
We haven’t heard from the victim, but J’Mari said she is extremely grateful.
“She thanks me every day for it," J'Mari said. "I just kind of tell her, 'I would want somebody to help me out if I was in that predicament.' Every time she sees me, she hugs me and thanks me.”
Bland was sentenced for charges of malicious wounding, statutory burglary of building with the intent to commit rape/rob/murder/arson, and assault and battery.
Circuit Court Judge Steven C. Mahan sentenced Bland to 20 years and 12 months in prison. This sentence greatly exceeded the high end of the Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines, which recommended a sentence no greater than five years and ten months
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The victim continues to recover, but her neighbors say she is in good spirits.
News 3 will host a special report about domestic violence on June 23 at 8 p.m. on WTKR.
