A 36-year-old Groton man who assaulted his pregnant wife two years ago and brutally beat her in front of their children a year later will be serving an eight-year prison sentence followed by five years of probation.

Rasheen R. Perez pleaded guilty Thursday in New London Superior Court to assault on a pregnant person, second-degree assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of violation of a protective order.

He has been held in lieu of $250,000 since August 2014.

According to prosecutor Sarah E. Steere, Perez came up behind his wife, Stephanie, who was pregnant, pulled her by the hair and struck her in the face three or four times on April 21, 2013. The victim suffered injuries to her face and head but refused medical attention.

On August 5, 2014, Groton City Police went to the couple’s Brandegee Avenue home to find Stephanie Perez bleeding from the face and head and eight children in an upstairs bedroom, crying, according to Steere. There was blood on the walls, floors and doors, and one of the children, a 2-year-old boy, was covered in his mother’s blood and was scratched during the incident. An 11-year-old reported that Perez had punched his mother in a bedroom, then banged her head into a wall as she bled from the face. She suffered a fractured nose and severe swelling. Perez left the home and was arrested later at a relative’s home in Vernon.

At the time of the August 2014 incident, a court order was in place forbidding Perez from assaulting or harming the victim. After the incident, a judge issued an order prohibiting him from having contact with her. Days later, he called her from prison and apologized, saying he didn’t remember the incident, Steere said. In a conversation recorded by the Department of Correction, the wife told him, “I can barely talk. I’m swollen from head to toe with one eye shut,” according to Steere.

In pleading guilty, Perez, who is represented by attorney Jennifer B. Nowak from the public defender’s office, accepted a plea offer involving a sentence of 20 years in prison, suspended after eight years served, followed by five years of probation. The victims of the crimes, who are expected to address the court at Perez’s sentencing on April 22, had hoped for a lengthier prison term.