Hatchet Suspect: I Didn't Swing It At Them
SCOTTDALE (KDKA) -- A man accused of swinging a hatchet at his roommate and her infant son is telling his side of the story.
The preliminary hearing for 31-year-old Vincent South was continued to give him time to get an attorney.
"I didn't actually swing it at them," South told KDKA's Trina Orlando. "I swung it at my living room table and it ricocheted."
Smith is accused of swinging at hatchet at Leanne Abbott and her 7-month-old son, Ayden, last week.
"He got mad because I turned my back and walked away from him and he threw it," Abbott said.
Abbott, her son and boyfriend had been staying with South and his fiancé, Myia Blystone, for about a month in their Scottdale home.
Abbott says it was not uncommon for South to become angry.
"Anytime he would get mad, he'd either pick up his nunchucks or a sword, so you know, and just swing them around," she said. "I don't know if it was to scare us, but he never threw anything until the hatchet."
Blystone says she wishes her fiancé had never picked up the hatchet. She thinks he was stressed over not having a job and that caused him to snap.
"He's really not an actual bad person," she said. "He just had some issues, but he's an actual great person. I don't know why it would happen like this, so I think it's just a big misunderstanding."
For now, South is being held on charges of criminal attempt at aggravated assault and related charges.
He is in the Westmoreland County Jail on $50,000 bond.
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