Sex offender allegedly attacks woman inside Boston hospital

Madden added, “He doesn't remember entering Massachusetts General Hospital. He remembers being with a friend and he remembers ending up in jail.’’

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, speaking in court, described a violent attack on a 27-year-old woman, who was an MGH employee and who was washing her face in the bathroom when Flavell suddenly appeared. At the time that Flavell entered the bathroom, a second woman was in the bathroom, Deakin said.

Deakin said Flavell grabbed the woman around the neck and around the waist. The victim later told police she remembered Flavell “banging her head on the floor several times.’’ He said the woman fought off Flavell’s attack and managed to break away from him.

“She had blood covering her face,’’ Deakin said of the woman.

Deakin said the second woman in the bathroom identified Flavell to MGH police officers who arrested him as he walked out of the bathroom. He said Boston police took Flavell into custody and seized his clothing.

The victim was taken to the MGH emergency room where she was given first aid. She later returned to the MGH police and identified Flavell as her attacker through a one-way mirror, Deakin said.

Deakin said Flavell has been convicted of sex crimes, assaults or annoying women in Essex, Bristol and Norfolk counties since 1996.

In 2006, Bristol Superior Court Judge Richard T. Moses rejected a request by prosecutors and ruled that Flavell was not a sexually dangerous person, ordering his release from the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater.

Two years later Flavell was convicted of entering a women's bathroom at a Braintree bookstore and peering underneath a stall, startling a woman inside. Flavell received the maximum of sentence of six months imprisonment and the Norfolk District Attorney's office tried again to have him civilly committed.

That attempt failed last month when Norfolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders ruled that prosecutors did not prove Flavell was a threat to the public. A forensic mental health expert hired by the prosecution found Flavell to be a threat, but an expert hired by his defense attorney reached the opposite conclusion, according to David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney.

"The judge ruled that we had not met our burden,'' Traub said.

The suspect is also known as David L. Flavell and David M. Flavell and was identified by Braintree police as David C. Flavell. He is listed as being homeless.

In a statement, MGH said the attack was a “random incident’’ and lauded its security department for its quick response. The statement also said the woman was treated for minor injuries.

“A random incident occurred yesterday afternoon at the MGH in which a man who had no connection to the hospital came into the institution and assaulted a woman in a public restroom,’’ the statement said in part. “This incident was upsetting for all of us at the institution, but fortunately, it was an isolated and highly unusual event.”