Man gets 8 years for severe beating of woman

YOUNGSTOWN — A man who prosecutors say beat a woman so severely in March that he gave her a "facial explosion" was sentenced today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to eight years in prison.

Michael Atyim, 42, of Mill Road in Boardman, was sentenced by Judge Lou D'Apolito after pleading guilty to two counts of felonious assault for beating a woman March 16 in her Bears Den Road home after he hit the victim's mother during an argument.

Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond said the woman suffered such severe facial injuries that medical records said she suffered a "facial explosion," a medical term he said he had never heard before.

The victim was present but she had to be removed from the courtroom because she would not stop talking during the proceedings.