A Licking man faces two felony charges and is held in the Texas County Jail on $500,000 bond after allegedly assaulting a woman in the early hours of Monday and causing severe injuries all over her body.

Following a Licking Police Department investigation, Nicholas Berriault, 34, of Friend Apartments, No. 9, is charged with first-degree assault – serious injury (a class A felony) and armed criminal action (an unclassified felony).

An investigating LPD officer reported that he was advised at about 2:50 a.m. Monday that a female assault victim from Licking was at the Texas County Memorial Hospital. He was told that a Houston police officer was at the hospital with a witness who had driven the victim to the hospital, and that the assault had taken place at apartment 9 at North Friend St. and Berriault was the suspected assailant.

The LPD officer went to the apartment and knocked and announced his presence. At the time, a person reportedly came to a front window, pulled the blinds back and then walked away. The officer announced his presence again and stated he needed to speak to Berriault, but nobody answered or came to the door.

Multiple injuries

The officer then traveled to the hospital in Houston and observed that the victim had numerous serious injuries. Her left eye reportedly had a large contusion and was swollen shut and had a cut under it, her hands were bruised (and nurses believed they were broken), she had a large, deep gash on the back of her head that was believed to be the source of a large amount of blood and she had large welts on her hands and arms.

The victim’s sweatshirt reportedly had to be cut off of her due to the amount of blood on it. A nurse reportedly stated the gash on her head appeared to have been caused by an object rather than a closed fist or elbow.

The officer also observed rectangular marks on the woman’s back that appeared to possibly be from a belt.

The victim told the officer Berriault had a hatchet or ax in his hand at one point, and that she didn’t recall the entire incident due to her extensive injuries.

The witness told the officer she had been awakened by a phone call from the victim, who hung up and was trying to enter her apartment. The witness stated the victim was followed to her mother’s apartment, and that Berriault had his arms wrapped around the victim’s shoulder and neck.

Another LPD officer went to Berriault’s apartment, but was also unable to make contact with him. Berriault was taken into custody and jailed on Tuesday (Sept. 25).