'You Almost Killed Me': 30 Years for East Boston Rape, Beating

Boston, MA - A man accused of raping and beating an East Boston woman will spend another three decades behind bars, sentenced Wednesday.

Thomas Cradock, 27, is already serving a sentence in Plymouth County for a separate incident. When that term ends, he will return to prison for up to 30 years, charged with aggravated rape, assault with intent to murder, aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and aggravated assault and battery.

Police and the DA's office once again deployed a DNA match to build its case, based on evidence collected through a rape kit after the incident.

According to the DA's office, the victim shared the following statement before Cradock's sentencing Thursday:

“My life will never be the same because of what you did to me. You almost killed me … but I am not broken. I have worked incredibly hard to get my life back, and there is more to come. I am not a victim of your attack on me. I am a survivor. You took my life away from me and I have taken it back.”

The woman was found unconscious and injured in a vacant East Boston lot the morning of Sept. 21, 2011, according to the DA's office. She was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with multiple fractures and bruises and a traumatic brain injury that required multiple surgeries. A rape kit at the hospital confirmed she was sexually assaulted, and provided the biological evidence that would later link Cradock to the crime.

Convicted in Plymouth County on an unrelated charge, Cradock's felony conviction compelled him to provide a DNA sample, which eventually matched with the evidence stored from the East Boston case. Prosecutors bolstered their case with evidence that Cradock lived nearby at the time.

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