NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — What was initially reported as an accidental stabbing during play sword fighting in a Norfolk apartment last month was, in reality, a much different and more serious matter, court documents indicate.

Timothy Johnson, 63, the man accused of stabbing a 73-year-old woman in an apartment on Mariners Way in Norfolk last month, was denied bond and faces a hearing in Norfolk General District Court Dec. 4. He faces charges of malicious wounding and assaulting a family member.

10 On Your Side has learned the call police had reported an apparent accidental stabbing during play sword fighting — dispatchers in the early morning hours of Sept. 30 could be heard saying, “They say that she and her husband were sword fighting and he accidentally stabbed her in the stomach.”

But when officers arrived to the scene, evidence painted a much different picture.

According to a search warrant affidavit, when police arrived around 1:45 a.m., they saw apparent blood and blood spatter everywhere — in the entry way of the home, on the living room floor, the entryway, a couch and even the ceiling. The 73-year-old victim told police that the suspect, Timothy Johnson, 63, jumped on her and stabbed her with a machete multiple times. Stab wounds were around her neck, not her abdomen.

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said domestic violence spiked in 2020, like many other crimes.

“It’s in some ways the most cowardly and low form of crime that anybody could commit,” Fatehi said.

Fatehi told 10 On Your Side Norfolk was one of the first localities to use a domestic violence lethality measurement tool.

“To assess whether they are at greater risk than the average domestic violence victim, to be victimized again or to be killed,” Fatehi said.

Fatehi said that for decades, they have had grants pay for prosecutors, a paralegal and a victim advocate specializing in domestic violence. Another big change they made in recent years was no longer forcing victims of domestic violence to testify in court.

“So when we force a witness to the stand, knowing that it would either traumatize the victim, alienate the victim for us, or cause the victim to lie,” Fatehi said, “we are hurting our own ability as prosecutors to successfully prosecute an abuser.”