A New Mexico man who admitted attacking an 8-year-old girl with a beer bottle inside a crowded Albuquerque restaurant because she was “in his way” has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Nichalas San Souci, 24, received the sentence Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to two counts of child abuse, according to court records.
He was also ordered to serve three years of probation after his release.
The shocking attack happened on April 25, 2025, inside Saggio’s restaurant near the University of New Mexico campus.
Prosecutors said the young girl was looking at an indoor waterfall when San Souci suddenly approached her from behind, smashed a beer bottle over her head and used the broken glass to slash her neck.
The child suffered serious injuries and required 19 stitches.
Police said San Souci and the girl had never met before the unprovoked attack.
According to court documents, San Souci told investigators he attacked the child “because she got in my way.”
The victim’s father, Britton Rose, previously described the terrifying moment he realized something had happened to his daughter.
Rose said the popular restaurant was crowded and his family expected a long wait for a table. His wife and daughter began walking around to look at the murals and decorations while they waited.
“That’s when I heard my wife from across the restaurant yelling, ‘No, no, stop,’” Rose told KOAT. “And then I knew something was going on with my family.”
When Rose reached his daughter, he said she was “soaking wet” after being near the restaurant’s waterfall.
The girl told him that a man had approached her from behind and broken a beer bottle over her head.
Authorities said San Souci then stabbed and sliced the child with the jagged remains of the bottle.
The terrifying confrontation reportedly continued after the initial attack.
Rose said San Souci later stood up and pulled out a knife. At first, the father believed the weapon might be used against him, but he quickly realized the man appeared to be looking toward his daughter again.
“I wanted to make sure that I could get in between him and her,” Rose said.
When charges were first announced, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman called the attack “so, so disturbing” and said San Souci faced decades behind bars if convicted of the original charges.
During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, San Souci apologized to the victim and her family.
He reportedly told the court that he had been under the influence of drugs at the time, though he acknowledged that was not an excuse for what he did.
San Souci said he would accept whatever punishment the judge imposed.
He will now spend 12 years in prison for the random and horrifying attack that left a young girl seriously injured during what should have been an ordinary family trip to a restaurant.
Look at the eyes