Hempfield attacker pleads guilty, begs judge to stay in jail

All Ian Smail knew was he was brutally beaten by his Hempfield neighbor last year, an attack that left him in a coma for 11 days.

It wasn’t until later that he realized his injuries were far more severe and included dozens of slash wounds to his face and a laundry list of other medical issues from which he’s still struggling to recover.

“I am determined to make sure this guy doesn’t get a chance to do this again,” Smail said Thursday after watching his attacker plead guilty to aggravated and simple assault. “I want to do the most possible to keep him away from civilians and society.”

And it seems that his attacker, Vincente Alejo Andres, 36, of Hempfield, is on the same page.

Andres, appearing by video from the county jail, pleaded with Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio to remain behind bars, saying that, if released, he would be homeless.

“I get three meals a day and a warm place to sleep,” Andres said. “I am terrified to leave the jail, and winter is right around the corner. I come before you as a broken man. I am beaten and I just don’t want to be back on the streets.”

The judge said she will sentence Andres in about three months. In the interim, he will be sent to Torrance State Hospital for mental health treatment.

Police said Andres punched Smail in the face as many as 15 times and repeatedly slashed him with a knife during the June 21, 2019, confrontation.

Smail said he found his attacker drunk and urinating in a closest and later was struck from behind as he attempted to intervene during an altercation between Andres and a woman.

“He hit me in the back of a head with a chair, I don’t know what else he hit me with,” Smail said. “Every story he told me was a violent story, I should have known better than to get involved.”

Smail said he was hospitalized for several weeks, underwent numerous surgeries and has experienced vision loss as a result of the attack.

“I am getting things back together now. I took a lot of brain trauma and had 37 fractures to the skull,” Smail said.

Bilik-DeFazio last September rejected a proposed plea bargain after prosecutors reported that Smail, then hospitalized, opposed the deal that called for Andres to serve a nine-to-23-month jail sentence.

In court on Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Allen Powanda said Andres faces potentially longer sentence based on his prior criminal record that includes no other convictions but allegations of additional assaults.