From staff reports
A Lady’s Island man who attacked a woman with a box cutter in a dispute over a motel room has been convicted of attempted murder.
A Beaufort County General Sessions Court jury found Demetrius Deon Thompson, 43, guilty Thursday, Oct. 21, of attacking a St. Helena Island woman in December 2020. Thompson also was convicted for possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime.
He was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for the attempted murder and five years for the weapon charge. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
“Mr. Thompson hunted down his victim to attack her over the bill for a motel room,” Assistant Solicitor Daniel Gourley, who prosecuted the case, said in a release. “His violent reaction and his history of criminal behavior makes it clear Mr. Thompson is a danger to the community and needs to be off the streets.”
According to prosecutors, Thompson and the woman stayed together in a Port Royal motel on Dec. 4, 2020. The two quarreled over who would pay for a second night’s stay, and Thompson told authorities that when he awoke the next morning, the woman had already departed without leaving money for an additional night.
Angered, Thompson left the room with a box cutter and began looking for the woman. He found her walking with another man along a road near the Beaufort High School football stadium on Lady’s Island. Thompson confronted her, then slashed her neck with the box cutter.
The woman was treated at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s officers located Thompson shortly after the attack, and he led them to the box cutter, which had the victim’s blood and hair on it.
Thompson’s criminal history includes convictions for trespassing, possession of marijuana, assault and battery, sale or delivery of cocaine, and sex-offender registry violations.
Gourley called 11 witnesses during the two-day trial at the Beaufort County Courthouse. Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentence.
