Man jailed for assaulting woman

NORRISTOWN >> A Pottstown man is headed to prison on an assault-related charge in connection with the stabbing of a West Pottsgrove woman while he visited her home.

Arthur Claude Thomas, 25, of the 400 block of Chestnut Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 4-to-8years in a state penitentiary after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated assault in connection with the November 2017 incident at a residence in the 1200 block of Manatawny Street in West Pottsgrove.

Judge Steven C. Tolliver, who imposed the sentence as part of a plea agreement, ordered Thomas to have no contact with the victim as a condition of the sentence.

By pleading guilty to the aggravated assault charge, Thomas admitted that he attempted to cause serious bodily injury to another person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

An investigation began about 4:47 a.m. Nov. 27, 2017, when West Pottsgrove police responded to the Manatawny Street residence for a report of a stabbing. A female resident of the home told police that Thomas, a friend who was visiting the home, stabbed her in the neck and then fled in her vehicle, according to the criminal complaint filed by West Pottsgrove Police Officer Andrew N. Peifer.

When police arrived at the home they found the victim in the bathroom.

“She was conscious and appeared to have sustained

a stab wound to the back of her left shoulder and a cut or laceration to the front of her neck and was bleeding from both areas,” Peifer alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the victim stated she was lying in bed when Thomas attacked her with a knife and punched her in the head.

The woman told police she fought back and was able to make her way upstairs to seek help from a relative while Thomas took her keys and fled in her vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators found a steak knife that was broke off at the hilt, court documents indicate.

“A black plastic knife handle was located on the bed and the blade itself was discovered on the floor at the foot of the bed,” Peifer alleged, adding the blade was bent and deformed, “suggesting it had been struck against a hard object.”

The blade was about 4-to5-inches in length and had a serrated edge, police said. Police also found “smears of blood” on a wall by a bedroom door and on other fixtures in the home.

“Drops of blood were located on the floor of the living room between the front door and the bottom of the staircase,” Peifer wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Court documents do not indicate if the victim sought medical treatment for her injuries.

Thomas will receive credit for the time he has been in jail since Dec. 5, 2017, court documents indicate.