Nichalas San Souci (Metropolitan Detention Center). Background: The Albuquerque restaurant where San Souci allegedly assaulted an 8-year-old with a beer bottle (KOAT).
A 24-year-old New Mexico man who admitted to smashing a beer bottle over an 8-year-old girl's head and slashing her neck inside a popular Albuquerque restaurant because she was "in his way" has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
Nichalas San Souci was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to two counts of child abuse, court records show. He also was ordered to serve three years of probation following his release.
During the sentencing hearing, San Souci apologized to the victim and her family, Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT reported. He explained that while it was no excuse, he was on drugs at the time of the attack, adding that he would accept whatever punishment the court ordered.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the attack happened April 25, 2025, at Saggio's restaurant near the University of New Mexico campus. Prosecutors said the girl was "looking at a waterfall" inside the restaurant when San Souci suddenly attacked.
"San Souci hit the child over the head with a beer bottle then sliced her neck with the broken bottle," prosecutors said.
The child was "seriously injured," with authorities saying she needed 19 stitches.
The victim and San Souci did not know each other prior to the incident, police said.
The victim's father, Britton Rose, provided additional details about what took place in a previous interview with KOAT.
Rose said that when he found his daughter in the restaurant, she was "soaking wet." She then explained that someone had "come up from behind and broke a beer bottle over her head."
According to Rose, the popular restaurant was crowded and there was a long line when he and his family arrived, so they knew it "was going to be a while" before they were seated at a table. As they waited, he said his wife and daughter went to walk around and look at the murals and other decorations.
"That's when I heard my wife from across the restaurant yelling, 'No, no, stop,'" Rose told the station. "And then I knew something was going on with my family."
According to court documents obtained by KOAT, after breaking the bottle on the child's head, San Souci then "stabbed" and "sliced" the victim with what remained of the bottle. He told authorities that he attacked the 8-year-old "because she got in my way."
Rose told the station that after San Souci attacked his daughter, the suspect pulled out a weapon.
"Later, after our original altercation, he did stand back up, and he pulled out a knife," Rose said. "Which at first I maybe thought he was going to use against me, but quickly I could tell that his intention diverted, and he was looking back over towards my daughter. So I wanted to make sure that I could get in between him and her."
At the time charges were announced, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman described the attack as "so, so disturbing" and said San Souci faced decades in prison if convicted on the original charges.
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