Details emerge in January police standoff with Hilton Head man accused of sexual assault
A magistrate has upheld charges against a Hilton Head man who got into an hours-long standoff with police in January while barricaded in his wife’s Beaufort home after allegedly sexually assaulting another woman.
Beaufort County Magistrate Judge Jean McCormick ruled Friday that there was “probable cause” for the charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping against Donald Veitch II, 59, of Hilton Head.
Dario Sosa, the lead investigator on the case for Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, also revealed new details of the alleged sexual assault and standoff during testimony at Friday’s preliminary hearing.
Veitch was accused of sexually assaulting a woman on Jan. 13 at his Jonesville Road home. Sosa said the woman had previously been in a relationship with Veitch but ended things in October, when she discovered he was married.
On Jan. 13, she came to Veitch’s home to deliver a piece of exercise equipment. Veitch asked her to give him a testosterone shot, something she’d done in the past. According to Sosa, she told police that Veitch’s “entire demeanor changed” when they entered the kitchen for the shot.
She told police that Veitch took her phone and sexually assaulted her three times before giving her her phone back and letting her leave three hours later. In that timeframe, he mentioned several times that he owned guns and made comments like “I can’t live without you, nobody else can have you, what am I supposed to do now if you call the police?,” according to Sosa.
After she got her phone back, the woman drove to a gas station and called 911, then met with sheriff’s deputies and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
Sosa said police arranged a time for Veitch to come in for an interview the next day, but he didn’t show up. Police went to his Hilton Head home and called him with no response, but he picked up when a neighbor called on their behalf.
He told Sosa the garage code to his home and said he was at his wife’s Beaufort home on Brotherhood Road, adding that he had a shotgun and would take his own life.
Officers from the Sheriff’s Office, including the sheriff’s S.W.A.T. team, and Beaufort Police Department responded to the Brotherhood Road home, where they saw Veitch holding a shotgun and pointing it at himself.
Members of the S.W.A.T. team entered the house around 2 a.m. on Jan. 16 after hours of back-and-forth with Veitch, who was transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
“He was in hospital for three to four days, then was served with arrest warrant,” Sosa said.
Veitch is represented by public defender Juan Tolley. He was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center on Jan. 21 and remains there with no bond set.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, the Lowcountry’s Hopeful Horizons organization has a 24-hour support line at (843) 770-1070. Resources can be found online at www.hopefulhorizons.org.
Help can also be reached at the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-4673.