NORWAY — Bail was set at $500 cash Monday for a Norway man charged with hitting a man over the head with a shovel and threatening to slit his girlfriend’s throat, officials said.

Matthew Wightman, 31, was arrested Friday, May 5, on charges of felony aggravated assault and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, and a misdemeanor charge of violating conditions of release.

Attorney Kelly McMorran recommended to 11th District Court Judge Charles Dow that Wightman be released on personal recognizance bail or supervised release.

However, Dow set bail at $500 cash, citing the fact that Wightman was on probation for a previous conviction.

Norway police officer James Ventresca wrote in an affidavit that he was called to Stephens Memorial Hospital at 5:08 p.m. Thursday, May 4, for a report of an assault. Ventresca said a man there said Wightman came to his house on Solon Street, accused him of stealing $50 and hit him in the back of the head with a shovel.

“I photographed the wound, a gash approximately 3 to 4 inches long on the back of his head,” Ventresca wrote. “He said that when he (and his girlfriend) asked Wightman to leave their residence, Wightman picked up the shovel and hit him in the head.”

Ventresca wrote that after the girlfriend threatened to call the police, Wightman pulled out a “7- to 8-inch knife” with a “brass knuckle handle” and threatened to “slit (her) throat.”

Wightman left the residence after the girlfriend continued yelling and threatening to call the police.

The next day, Patrolman Stephen Cronce found Wightman at his residence on Cottage Street, arrested him and took him to the Oxford County Jail in Paris.

Wightman’s next court date is July 27.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

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