The man who lodged a knife in a Westover woman’s head pleaded guilty in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Judge Phillip Gaujot accepted 25-year-old Zachary Nipper’s plea of guilt for unlawful assault. Nipper was indicted in May on charges of malicious assault, domestic battery, destruction of property and obstructing an officer.
Westover police responded to a Holland Avenue home on April 9 where a woman was reported stabbed. One there, EMTs were treating a woman with a 6-inch chef knife lodge in her head, with the flat part of the blade resting on her skull, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Benchoff said. The knife did not penetrate the woman’s skull and was removed in the emergency room.
Inside the residence officers saw signs of a struggle including dishes and other items broken and strewn about and large chunks of a woman’s hair on the floor, Benchoff said.
After speaking with the victim and her daughter it was determined the two of them and Nipper were in a verbal argument with the mother attempted to end the argument by threatening to call the police on Nipper, who had active warrants for his arrest, Benchoff said. However the threat made him even more upset and he hit the mother in the face several times.
The mother, interviewed in the ER, was “adamant” the knife wound was an accident. She told police during the argument Nipper picked up a dish rack, which held the knife and several other items, and threw it at her. The knife ricocheted off the wall and lodged itself in her head.
The victim’s daughter, Kizzie Hardy, repeated the claim. Benchoff said police found the story unreasonable and arrested Nipper. Nipper did not give police a statement because he was uncooperative and aggressive throughout the process.
Nipper agreed with Benchoff’s assessment of the evidence that would have been presented.
Hardy called The Dominion Post following the paper’s initial report which called the incident a stabbing and told her side of the story — which included the dish rack claim.
Unlawful assault is a lesser and included charge of malicious assault with a penalty of one to five years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, the other charges were dropped. Nipper plans to ask for an alternative sentence, such as home confinement or probation. A presentence investigation will be conducted and sentencing will happen at a later date.
