According to police, Gretchen Rhyan Mazur-Williamson was “badly beaten in a rented cottage at the Beaufort Inn in April 2009” after her assailant “entered her room through a broken rear window and waited for her to return.” As a result of the attack, the woman sued the inn back in 2012, accusing the owner, Associated Luxury Inns of Beaufort, of gross negligence for “failing to adopt and utilize adequate and proper security and emergency procedures for guests.” Now, years later, the Beaufort Inn has agreed to “an undisclosed settlement.”
A bride’s wedding day is supposed to be one of the happiest, most exciting days of her life. It’s certainly not supposed to be spent in a hospital from being attacked the night before. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to 26-year-old Gretchen Rhyan Mazur-Williamson the night before her wedding. According to police, the bride to be was “badly beaten in a rented cottage at the Beaufort Inn in April 2009” after her assailant “entered her room through a broken rear window and waited for her to return.” As a result of the attack, the woman sued the inn back in 2012, accusing the owner, Associated Luxury Inns of Beaufort, of gross negligence for “failing to adopt and utilize adequate and proper security and emergency procedures for guests.” Now, years later, the Beaufort Inn has agreed to “an undisclosed settlement.”
But what happened, exactly? According to the lawsuit and police reports, when Mazur-Williamson returned to the cottage from a Bay Street restaurant the night before her wedding, the assailant “jumped on her, covered her mouth and punched her repeatedly, causing multiple fractures to her nose and face.” Unfortunately, the attack led the bride to cancel the wedding. She also had to “undergo facial surgery as a result of her injuries.”
So why was the inn blamed for the attack? Well, according to allegations mentioned in the lawsuit, “there had been 250 robberies, assaults and other crimes near the hotel during an unspecified period before the attack.” Because of that, the suit claimed that a “likelihood of eventual criminal conduct against a guest of the Beaufort Inn was foreseeable … and (the hotel) owed a duty to take reasonable action to protect (Williamson) and other guests against the risk of harm.”
Additionally, the lawsuit claimed the “hotel’s staff cleaned up blood and disturbed or removed other evidence that might have led to the attacker’s arrest sooner,” something that took years after the attack to accomplish. It wasn’t until September 2015 that Said Perez was “was connected to the incident through DNA…after he was charged in an unconnected case of beating and attempting to sexually assault a young woman,” according to the County Sheriff’s Office. He is facing “pending charges of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and first-degree burglary in connection with the 2009 attack.”
For now, Mazur-Williamson is pleased a settlement was reached, but she said the entire ordeal has been difficult for her and her husband.
Sources:
Bride attacked on the eve of her wedding reaches settlement with Beaufort hotel
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