BOSTON, May 30, 2013—An East Boston man was arraigned this week on charges he stabbed his drinking companion in the head and told police that a stranger with a machete did the deed, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

HUGO VENTURA (D.O.B. 1/24/83) was arraigned Tuesday in East Boston District Court on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a knife.  Assistant District Attorney Janine D’Amico requested bail be set at $1,000.  Judge Roberto Ronquillo imposed $100 bail, and the defendant was ordered held on an immigration detainer.

According to prosecutors, Boston Police officers arrived at a Bennington Street address shortly after 7:00 a.m. and found a 30-year-old East Boston man suffering from a stab wound.  A blade had gone through the victim’s ear and slashed his face, prosecutors said.  A 49-year-old woman also suffered a cut to the hand, prosecutors said.

Ventura allegedly told responding officers that three men had broken into the home, providing detailed descriptions of each alleged assailant, including one whom he said wielded a machete, prosecutors said.  Ventura allegedly claimed that the two victims came to his aid as he fought off the intruders and that the man with the machete had caused their injuries, prosecutors said.

The male victim was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he told police a less dramatic story: that he and Ventura had been drinking together when they began to argue and Ventura stabbed him, prosecutors said.

After his arrest, Ventura allegedly made post-Miranda statements admitting that the story he initially gave police was untrue and that he grabbed a knife during a physical altercation with the victim, prosecutors said.

Ventura is represented by William Gens.  He will return to court on June 25.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.