Four charged with brutal Theatre District attack

A Chinatown restaurant's decision to seat two separate parties at the same table early one May morning led to a mugging and beating that left one man with permanent brain damage, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and Boston Police charge, announcing the arrest of three men and a teenager for the attack.

Facing arraignment in Boston Municipal Court on charges of mayhem, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and unarmed robbery in Boston Municipal Court tomorrow are John Benoit, also known as Johnny Dang, and Jumoke Marshal, also known as Jumoke Zion, both 22, and both of Roxbury, Eric Wallace, 19, of Everett and a 15-year-old from Roxbury, not identified because of his age. Conviction could mean up to 20 years in state prison.

Prosecutors say that because the New Golden Gate restaurant on Beach Street was so crowded, two men were seated at the same table with the four suspects - whom they did not know - around 2:20 a.m. on May 10. Before anybody ordered any food, the two men got up to smoke cigarettes outside. The DA's office provides this account of what allegeldy happened next:

When they returned, the evidence suggests, the suspects had eaten most of the food and demanded money from the victim to pay the bill. The victim refused. Words were exchanged and the victim and his associate left the restaurant to avoid a confrontation.

The suspects followed the men outside and surrounded the two men near the intersection of Beach and Tyler streets. They again demanded money and the victim again refused. He walked away from them again.

Investigators believe that the four suspects followed the victim and other man with the intention of robbing them, converging on the pair near a shuttered lounge at 265 Tremont St. Evidence suggests that one or more of the suspects stomped on the victim's head more than half a dozen times, fracturing his skull, cracking his eye sockets, and tearing his lower lip open before stealing his wallet.

The victim, a South End resident at the time, suffered brain swelling, leading to memory loss and permanent cognitive damage. He's since fled the state. The man he was with fled the scene and has not been heard from since. The DA's office says detectives are still looking for him - and any other witnesses. You can contact detectives at 617-343-4571.

"Aside from the sheer brutality of the attack, what’s disturbing here is that, as far as we know, the suspects and victim had no connection prior to these events," DA Dan Conley said. "What happened to this man could have happened to anyone with the bad fortune to be seated next to them. The close work between police and prosecutors since that night was a shared effort to see that it doesn't happen again."

Innocent, etc.