A Lance Street resident says his wife was nearly decapitated and he was slashed by a sword-wielding man who attacked him on his own porch.
“He swung at her and if she hadn’t moved he would have cut her head clean off,” testified Duncan Carter in the preliminary hearing against the alleged assailant, Jeffery Lynn Thomas, 43, who reportedly appeared on their front lawn with a three-foot long sword. “He kept yelling ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you.’”
Carter said he grabbed a walking stick when he saw the man swing the sword at his wife and tried to fend off the attack. The victim was interrupted by defense attorney Scott Grissom when he tried to tell Judge Bill Locke about a text Thomas had sent which began the encounter.
“It’s hearsay,” Grissom challenged, a statement which irritated Carter, who was on the stand.
“It ain’t hearsay, he cut me,” Carter countered, noting he suffered a slash to his left shoulder.
Carter went on to say he and his wife barely knew the suspect and had tried to help him in the past.
“You just can’t help some people,” Carter said.
However, Grissom suggested Carter had gotten drugs from Thomas before and it was drugs that was their connection.
Carter maintained Thomas ran away after the initial attack as he challenged him to come back.
“I’m not scared of him,” Carter said. “I’m not scared of him right now.”
Judge Locke bound Thomas to the grand jury on charges of aggravated assault and possession of a prohibited weapon after hearing evidence in the case.