23-year-old Massachusetts man on probation accused of Manslaughter in death of mother

Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois has announced that on Friday, a Grand Jury indicted a Massachusetts man for his role relating to the death of a 71-year-old woman, occurring in July 2024, in the town of Sandwich. 

A Barnstable Grand Jury returned 2 indictments against 23-year-old Thomas Hayes of Sandwich, charging him with Manslaughter, and Assault and Battery on a Person 60+ or disabled Causing Serious Bodily Injury. 

In the late hours of July 24, 2024, EMTs and law enforcement responded to a 911 call from a private residence in the town of Sandwich, upon arrival first responders and police located an unconscious 71-year-old female on the ground in the second-floor bedroom, bleeding from a laceration to her head. The investigation revelated that Colleen Hayes was the mother of Hayes. The defendant told the 911 operator and law enforcement that he had pushed the 71-year-old unconscious female, and that she had fallen to the floor. Colleen was taken to Cape Cod Hospital. In addition to the laceration to her head, she suffered a broken neck and died at Cape Cod Hospital on July 30, 2024. 

At the time of this incident, the defendant was on probation out of the Barnstable District Court. As a result of this investigation the defendant was sentenced to 1 year at the Barnstable House of Correction for violating his probation. 

The defendant will be arraigned on a future date in the Barnstable Superior Court.

This case was investigated by the Sandwich Police Department and the MA State Police Detectives Unit assigned to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant District Courtney Leigh Scalice, Chief of the Child Abuse and Vulnerable Victims Unit. 

The Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office reiterates that all defendants are presumed innocent.