Valentine's Day Assault

This story originally appeared Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007

WEST CHESTER -- Valentine’s Day is normally a time for couples to express their affection for one another with flowers, chocolate or even just an intimate, candlelight dinner.

But for Lisa Platt of Spring City, this year’s holiday turned violent and bloody.
According to statements made during a court hearing Monday, Platt spent Valentine’s Day evening in the hospital, courtesy of her then-boyfriend, William Monroe Mathues.

Mathues had struck Platt once in the head with a snow shovel the two were fighting over outside their South Main Street home the night of Feb. 14. The two had admittedly been drinking heavily that day after a snow storm struck the region, and began arguing around 8:30 p.m. as they tried to clear the walk in front of the house.

Borough police said they found Platt in her home, bleeding from the scalp. She was taken to the hospital, where emergency room doctors closed her wound with five surgical staples.

In a hearing at which he pleaded no contest to simple assault charges, Mathues was sentenced to 235 days to 23 months in prison for the attack. The time-served plea allowed him to be paroled Monday.

Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Finnegan told Judge Howard F. Riley Jr. that Platt and Mathues have had “a long, ongoing turbulent relationship, that is now hopefully behind them.”

She said that Platt had been granted a protection from abuse order that requires Mathues to stay away from her or face jail time.

Mathues’ attorney, Robert J. Donatoni, said after the hearing that his client would be getting treatment for his drug and alcohol issues and had agreed not to have any contact with Platt, even though Spring City, where his family lives, is a close-knit community. Mathues plans to live in Royersford with his mother when he is released.

Mathues, wearing a turtleneck, striped sweater and olive khakis, said little during the brief hearing except to acknowledge that the prosecution could have proven its case against him and sought greater prison time than the seven months he has spent in jail since the incident.

He must also make restitution of about $12,500 for Platt’s medical expenses.