Man stabbed woman in supermarket with syringe filled with semen

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

A man has been jailed for 10 years after he stabbed a woman with a syringe filled with his semen in a supermarket.

Thomas Byron Stemen, of Maryland, America, was caught on CCTV stabbing Katie Peters with a syringe on 18 February 2020.

He told the victim: “I know, it feels like a bee sting, doesn’t it?” as he injected her in her buttocks.

At the time, Ms Peters told Fox5 that she had “no idea” what was in the syringe. “It could be rat poison, HIV, trucks, I don’t know what’s in that needle,” she said. “Trucks” can be used as slang for crystal meth.

She said: “I started driving home and it started hurting really bad.

“I called my son and said ‘something’s not right, I hope nothing happens. I hope I make it home, I love you.”

Later, police discovered more syringes in his car and home, all full of his semen.

Mr Stemen was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

It was believed that this was not Mr Stemen’s only attack.

The video caught on CCTV showed Mr Stemen walking closely behind Ms Peters before stabbing her. Ms Peters then confronted her attacker who also acted confused.

“If you’ve seen this video, it’s very aggressive, it’s very deliberate — and that makes us think it’s not his first time doing this,” Anne Arundel County Police Sergeant Jacklyn Davis said.

Mr Stemen had previously been served a warrant in 1999 as a fugitive from justice, according to Maryland online court records, The Sun Newspaper reported.

The records also show he went to court in 2013 for a domestic violence civil suit.