Springfield men sentenced to decades in prison for home invasion, torture

Two Springfield men will go to prison after both being convicted in a 2019 home invasion that left one person beaten, tortured and burned following a home invasion, the Hampden County District Attorney's Office announced , Anthony Gulluni.

Paul Gayle, 30, was sentenced to 35 to 40 years in state prison, and Malik Erskine, 24, was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in state prison, Gulluni's office said in a statement. A third suspect, a child, was also sentenced.

On Monday, September 30, 2019, a Springfield police officer was stopped by people on Roosevelt Avenue, Gulluni's office said. The officer found a man with burns over most of his body. The man said several people broke into his home to rob him before he electronically transferred $4,000.

The men who broke in bound him with zip ties and used an accelerant and a fire source to burn and torture him, Gulluni's office said. The man was taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment. More than 60 percent of the man's body had second- and third-degree burns.

“The victim in this case suffered greatly, physically and mentally, from the barbaric assault she suffered at the hands of the defendants,” Gulluni said in the statement. “I thank the detectives of the Springfield Police Department for their hard work and thorough investigation that led to the arrest of the suspects.”

Gayle was indicted and convicted of the following counts: home invasion, assault with a weapon into a dwelling, felony breaking and entering in broad daylight, armed robbery (two counts), kidnapping (two counts accusation), mutilation, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, extortion by threat of bodily harm, assault and battery, money laundering, conspiracy, intimidation of witnesses and threatening to commit a crime.

Erskine was charged and convicted of charges of home invasion, armed assault in a habitation, felony daytime breaking and entering, armed robbery, kidnapping (two counts), assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, extortion with threat of injury, assault and battery, and money laundering.

“I hope this verdict brings some sense of justice to the victim who will live forever with the trauma she suffered,” Gulluni said.