A man accused of savagely beating his girlfriend is facing a felony charge of calling her from the jail and telling her to help him with the case, according to court documents.

Prosecutors charged 20-year-old Tristan Davis of Oak Harbor in Island County Superior Court April 4 with tampering with a witness and fourth-degree assault.

The crimes were charged as being related to domestic violence.

On April 2, witnesses at the McDonald’s restaurant in Oak Harbor reported that a woman with a black eye had come in crying, saying her boyfriend beat her often. She said he would kill her if he knew she was talking to someone.

The witnesses called the police, who were able to identify the woman from a description; the police knew Davis from past domestic violence incidents, court documents show.

The police went to the couple’s home and found the 18-year-old woman with “a hugely swollen and purple left eye.” She was crying and told an officer that Davis was going to kill her because the police showed up; she repeated “I’m in so much trouble” over and over again, according to the police report.

A relative told the police that Davis regularly assaults the woman. He hit her four or five times on the back recently, the report states.

The officers observed large bruises on her back and bruises all over her face in various stages of healing.

A relative also told the officers that Davis didn’t let the victim have friends.

Davis told the officers that the woman had “let herself fall” and hit her face on a doorknob, the police report states. He told the officers he didn’t know anything about the bruises on her back.

When Davis was booked into the jail, he was told not to contact the victim.

But in a recorded call from the jail, Davis talked to the woman and told her he needed help beating the criminal case against him. He told her to stay at his mother’s house so he could reach her, the report states.

The officer wrote in her report that she feared for the woman’s safety if Davis was released from jail.

On April 3, a judge in Island County Superior Court set his bail at $75,000.

Davis’ criminal history included several assaults, possession of a stolen vehicle and eluding.