Former Wareham basketball star charged with attempted murder
Former Wareham basketball star Jules Tavares was charged with attempted murder along with three other felony charges in connection with an attack last March on his then girlfriend, according to documents in the New Bedford District Court.
Tavares, one of the leaders of the 2010 Division III State Championship Wareham High School basketball team, was arrested on March 10 by Wareham, New Bedford and Massachusetts State Police after a warrant for his arrest was issued last August.
According to court documents, on the night of March 29, 2014, Tavares, 22, told his girlfriend to come to his apartment at 12 Warren St. in New Bedford after her shift at work. She arrived at his house at 3 a.m.
When she arrived, he opened her car door and then grabbed her by her hair and repeatedly threw her down onto the concrete driveway, according to court documents.
He allegedly continued beating her as she entered the apartment, slapping and hitting her in front of other people in the apartment, who didn't answer her pleas for help.
At one point, Tavares allegedly hit the victim with a piece of wood that had broken off a door during the altercation. According to the documents, when the two were in bed, the victim alleged that Tavares got on top of her, began to choke her and said "I'm going to kill you."
The documents state that Tavares also took her cell phone and car keys and wouldn't let her leave the apartment. It wasn't until the victim was able to quickly grab her phone and called her mother to say, "Call 911 because I'm going to die," that police were dispatched.
New Bedford Police said that the victim initially told police that she was not assaulted and that her bruises were from a previous car accident. Officers found her statements skeptical and filed a domestic report. It wasn't until Aug. 9 that the victim came forward to a court advocate and detective at New Bedford District Court, according to documents.
She said she lied to police because she was afraid of what Tavares might do to her. She told police that Tavares was very abusive and "beat me up and choked me almost daily," according to court documents.
She told police she wanted to put the incident behind her and that members of Tavares' family had begun sending her threatening text messages.
Along with attempted murder, Tavares was charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, one count of witness intimidation.
Tavares was arrested in February 2011 and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly threatening a man with a gun at a party in West Wareham. At that time he was held on bail due to a violation of probation for a previous charge of malicious destruction of property.
He was held on $2,500 cash bail on March 10, which was posted by his mother March 11. He has a probable cause hearing in New Bedford District Court scheduled for April 17.