'I can't say no': Golf club attack may leave victim permanently blind in one eye, police say

Background: Ashton Drive, Fishers, Ind. (Google Maps). Inset: Kobe Blake (Marion County Jail/WXIN).

An Indiana man allegedly confessed to attacking an acquaintance with a golf club, causing permanent vision loss to the victim.

Kobe Blake, 37, is charged with more than a dozen counts, including aggravated battery, intimidation, robbery and auto theft, according to court records. He was arrested on Sept. 11 for an alleged attack that occurred in July, Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN reported.

According to court documents, Blake assaulted the victim with a golf club inside the victim’s home the night of July 3, causing skull and facial fractures. He then allegedly robbed the man, taking two gaming consoles — an Xbox and a Nintendo Switch — and driving off in his F-150 pickup truck.

As a result of the attack, the victim is unlikely to regain vision in one of his eyes, police reportedly said.

WXIN reported that the two men had been hanging out that night before the alleged assault, going to multiple locations and at least one bar. The assault reportedly happened after the two had made their way back to the victim’s home, where they apparently smoked marijuana and snorted methamphetamine.

Police said that Blake admitted to them that he carried out the assault.

“Yeah, I knocked him out,” he reportedly said. When asked if he used a golf club in the assault, Blake reportedly replied: “I can’t say no.”

Blake also allegedly expressed regret.

“I took the whole f—ing memory of the night,” he told investigators, WXIN said. “I wanted to erase the s— out of the memory.”

The most serious charge carries a potential maximum 16-year prison sentence. Blake faces a potential habitual offender enhancement, WXIN reported, which would add up to 20 additional years in prison to any sentence if he is convicted.

Blake’s next court appearance is a pretrial conference scheduled for Oct. 23, according to an online court docket. Jail records indicate that he is no longer in custody.

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