Dartmouth man sentenced for stabbing and stalking charges

A Dartmouth man was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in state prison for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, intimidation of a witness and stalking in Dartmouth and New Bedford. 

Ryan Veensta, 42, was sentenced in the Fall River Superior Court by the Honorable Thomas Perrino on Friday, Sept. 5. He had previously been convicted after a jury trial on Aug. 21, 2025.

The charges against Veensta began with an incident on Oct. 7, 2022 after Dartmouth police responded to Veensta’s then girlfriend’s address for a report of a stabbing.

Police found the female victim with a slashing stab wound to her neck that was actively bleeding, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. When they arrived, Veensta was on scene providing aid to the victim’s injury.

Police had noted he was extremely intoxicated and talked over the victim when they responded to the call.

At the time, the victim had told the police that she had been stabbed in the throat after delivering a Door Dash order when she had to pull her car over.

At the time he had threatened to kill her if she told the police, and when police responded to his 911 call she reported that she was stabbed after pulling over during a DoorDash delivery. 

In January 2024, the victim, who was living in a domestic violence shelter, went to the Dartmouth Police Department and said that Veensta had been the one who stabbed her.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the victim told the police that when she arrived home from a Door Dash delivery, Veensta, who was intoxicated, accused her of stealing his phone.

The phone was on the dash of the victims car, but when the victim attempted to hand Veensta the phone, she felt a pinching on her neck and felt blood stream from the area, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Veensta called the police and concocted the story about a stranger stabbing the victim and acknowledged stabbing her.The victim remembered that Veensta was wearing a pair of brass knuckles with an attached blade.

The victim needed internal stitches and external staples, and left her with a scar and permanent nerve damage. 

The victim broke up with Veensta a day after the stabbing. For three months, he texted and called her, some days amounting to 50 to 100 messages, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. 

The messages were both apologies and threats targeted at her, her family and friends.

"I commend the victim for coming forward and testifying at trial.  The defendant, at the time of the stabbing was on probation, and the court had previously issued 13 restraining orders against him involving seven different women,” said District Attorney Tom Quinn, “The lengthy sentence that was requested by my office and imposed by the Court is well deserved to protect the victim, her family, and the public from this defendant.”