Update: Motel stabber charged with attempted murder

Woman choked, man stabbed following incident early Tuesday in Penticton

Update:

A man accused of provoking a bloody melee early Tuesday at a Penticton motel will stay behind bars while undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

Ralph Scott James Lefteruk, 40, has been charged with two counts each of attempted murder and break and enter, plus single counts of assault and obstructing a police officer.

Lefteruk is accused of breaking into a unit at the Mayfair Motel, where he allegedly choked a 53-year-old woman and then stabbed a 40-year-old man who tried to intervene.

Mounties said the stabbing victim was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, while Lefteruk was arrested in the motel parking lot.

He’s due back in court Feb. 26.

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Posted Feb. 4, 2013

Mounties responded to a violent melee early Tuesday at a Penticton motel.

Just after 4 a.m., police were called to the Mayfair Motel, where a 53-year-old female had reportedly been choked by a male intruder who broke into her suite, Penticton RCMP spokesman Sgt. Rick Dellebuur said in a press release.

The woman managed to get away when her 43-year-old roommate and other neighbours intervened.

The suspect, who had blood on him, was located outside the motel when police arrived. The suspect is alleged to have stabbed a male neighbour who tried to assist the choking victim.

The stabbing victim’s injuries “were serious, but not life threatening and he remains in Penticton hospital,” Dellebuur said.

The suspect was taken to hospital for treatment of minor injures, then lodged in police cells.

Dellebuur said the suspect is known to police and remains in custody.

 

Penticton Western News