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Quincy man sentenced in fatal St. Patrick’s Day assault in downtown Boston
“Some bad decisions nearly three years ago resulted in one person losing his life, another person losing his freedom and many friends and family members left with eternal loss and sadness,” the Suffolk Count District Attorney said.
A Quincy man was sentenced for the deadly beating of a Woburn man who was found unresponsive in downtown Boston on St. Patrick’s day in 2023, prosecutors announced Monday.
Sanusi Sadiq, 31, was sentenced in Suffolk County Superior Court to three to six years of state prison, the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a press release.
Sadiq was indicted in September 2023 and found guilty of manslaughter on January 22, 2026 in a retrial. A previous trial, held in February 2025, ended in a mistrial.
Barry Whelan, 46, was found unresponsive outside of an ATM on Winter Street in Downtown Crossing on March 17, 2023. Whelan had a small abrasion to the back of his head, the DA said.
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First responders transported Whelan to Tufts Medical Center, where he was treated for a traumatic brain injury, the DA said.
Whelan died on March 20, 2023, the DA said.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Whelan died of blunt force and ruled his death a homicide, Boston.com previously reported.
Surveillance video shows Sadiq and Whelan get into a heated argument, the DA said.
The conversation was purportedly racial in nature after Whelan — allegedly drunk at the time — called Sadiq the “N-word,” prosecutors said in court documents.
The pair did not know each other, the DA said.
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Videos further show Sadiq as he “looked around, and then raised his right arm and struck Whelan in the head area when Whelan was turned facing the ATM,” the statement of the case filed by prosecutors said.
Whelan then fell back, hitting his head on the ground as Sadiq walked away, the DA said.
Family members and friends of Whelan were present for Sadiq’s sentencing, with one friend telling the court that members of the Woburn community “renovated an area in their church and dedicated it, along with a plaque, to Whelan,” Hayden said.
“This is how much Barry meant to us,” the friend said.
Prior to being sentenced, Sadiq apologized to Whelan’s loved ones and said the assault was “a moment of poor judgement and decision making,” and that his choice “forever changed the trajectory of (his) life,” the DA said.
“Some bad decisions nearly three years ago resulted in one person losing his life, another person losing his freedom and many friends and family members left with eternal loss and sadness. We far too often see the tragic results when people fail to make the simple decision to walk away,” Hayden said.
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During the second trial, prosecutors filed a motion to block testimony from a medical examiner who testified during the first trial “that intoxicated people are likely to suffer serious head injuries because intoxicated people do not defend their head in such a fall,” Michael Chinman, an attorney for Sadiq, said.
At the time of his death, Whelan had a .23 blood alcohol level, Chinman said.
“The first jury heard that without objection from the DA, and at the second trial the DA objected to that exact same testimony from the exact same witness, and the judge sustained that objection,” Chinman said.
This story has been updated to include comments from Sadiq’s attorney.
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