Jury deliberates on neighbors blade attack
BARSTOW • A Barstow jury will continue deliberations Monday in the case of a Barstow woman who allegedly tried to stab her neighbor after accusing the woman of kidnapping her children.
Bimla Nelson could face four years in prison if the jury finds her guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.
During his closing argument Friday, Deputy District Attorney Lloyd Masson accused Nelson of striking at her neighbor with a four- or five-inch straight razor, possibly an old-school shaving razor.
The victim told police she stepped back to avoid being hit before calling police. A witness who lived across the street told police a similar story, Masson said.
This attack happened weeks after another incident unreported to police where Nelson allegedly attacked the victim’s door with a butcher knife after accusing the victim of harboring her children in the house.
Nelson’s defense attorney Jim Liu accused the victim and the witness of making up the story about Nelson because they didn’t like her in their neighborhood.
In his closing argument, Liu pointed out at the preliminary hearing the victim testified the weapon used during the assault was a butcher knife. She later changed her story during trial, describing the weapon as a smaller shaving razor.
This was an effort to make the story more believable to the jury, he said. The witness also told defense investigators she never saw Nelson with anything in her hand, he said.
During trial the witness testified she saw a shiny metal object in Nelson’s hands during the alleged attack.
A search of court records finds Nelson was previously charged with battery, though she pleaded no contest to a disturbance charge. She was also convicted for disorderly conduct.
Contact the writer: (760) 256-4123 or klucia@desertdispatch.com
In the Sept. 15 article “Jury deliberates on neighbor blade assault,” the article insinuated the defendant attacked the victim because she thought the victim had kidnapped her children. The defendant asked the victim if she had her children before attacking her, though it was not necessarily the cause of the attack.
