FARMINGTON — A Franklin County judge lowered bail on Wednesday for a Carthage man accused of attempted murder from $250,000 cash to $25,000 cash or $100,000 in real estate.

Bowie’s attorney, Thomas Carey, reserved the right Wednesday to revisit bail if necessary in the future.

Bennie Bowie Jr., 47, is accused of cutting his 44-year-old girlfriend’s throat with a knife and repeatedly telling her to die either late Oct. 31 or early Nov. 1, according to a Franklin County Sheriff’s Department affidavit filed with the court.

Bowie is also accused of punching the woman and repeatedly slamming her head on the dashboard of his truck.

Bowie was arrested on felony charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault after Wells Police Department arrested him on a Franklin County warrant on Nov. 2.

Deputy Andrew Morgan and Cpl. Matthew Brann responded to the residence of Bowie’s mother in Carthage early Nov. 1 for a report of a female with a laceration to her neck.

Bowie’s mother told deputies that the female arrived at her house unexpectedly and went into the bathroom to clean up.

When Morgan arrived, he observed the victim bleeding from the neck and saw blood on the victim’s shirt and on the floor of the bathroom, the affidavit states.

When the victim was asked about her injury, she stated “her throat was cut by Bennie” with a knife, the affidavit states. She was taken to a Farmington hospital and transferred to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she underwent surgery.

Morgan observed a Chevrolet pickup truck in the yard that had a broken passenger window and blood smeared on the outside of the door.

Franklin County Detective Kenneth Charles interviewed the victim at the Lewiston hospital. The victim told Charles that she and Bowie, her boyfriend, were at their shared camper trailer in Carthage on Oct. 31, when an altercation ensued, according to the affidavit.

She told Charles that Bowie had drunk at least a dozen beers, an undetermined amount of vodka and had used intravenous heroin.

The victim stated that because of cold weather and her medical conditions, including diabetes, that she wanted to go to her father’s residence for the night.

Bowie “became upset and jealous” and accused the victim of cheating on him with other men, according to the affidavit.

The victim reported that Bowie punched her face and she fled to Bowie’s truck in the driveway. She told Charles that she was sitting on the passenger side and Bowie was sitting in the driver’s seat when he retrieved his folding buck knife from his belt and poked her several times on the left side of her neck, according to the affidavit.

She also told Charles that Bowie grabbed her hair and repeatedly slammed her head onto the dashboard. The victim reported that Bowie got out of the truck and she locked the doors. He went to the passenger side door and reached through a partially open window with his knife and cut her neck, causing her to bleed, the affidavit states.

The victim was able to escape and seek help.

She told Charles that Bowie yelled at her throughout the altercation, “die, b—-, die,” and “I should kill you.”

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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