Man Jailed After Pulling Samurai Sword During Assault On Woman At Old South Road Residence

An island resident was arraigned late last week in Nantucket District Court and remains in custody after he allegedly pulled a 28-inch samurai sword on a woman, attempted to destroy her cell phone, and assaulted her at a residence on Old South Road. 

Stoyan V. Atanasov, 37, was arraigned last Thursday on charges of assault and battery on a family/household member (two counts), assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of property over $1,200, and threatening to commit a crime following the incident on Sept 23. He had not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf and was held in custody after he was determined to be a danger by Judge Gregg Pasquale, who is the sitting Judge for Nantucket’s Superior Court session currently underway, and is filling in for District Court matters. A restraining order against Atanasov was also granted around 11 a.m. on September 24^th.

During a pretrial hearing on Monday, September 28, a request to release him on conditions such as wearing a GPS monitoring device was set to be taken under consideration by Judge Pasquale. However, the Nantucket Police made the court aware that less than an hour after the restraining order had gone into effect, Atanasov allegedly texted the woman saying, “release me please,” and that he loved her.

“I was considering putting him on home confinement, but since he has demonstrated problems following court orders, I am loath to do that,” Pasquale said. He ordered Atanasov to remain in jail and refused to release him with any conditions.

According to the police report, officers responded to an Old South Road residence for a 911 call at 10:08 p.m. last Wednesday in which a female was "whispering her address" to dispatchers during the call. The alleged victim told police that earlier that night, Atanasov allegedly took a samurai sword with a 28-inch blade and pointed it at her in close proximity, demanding that she give her cell phone to him or “he would harm her.”

“Scared and fearing for her life, (the alleged victim) believed Atanasov was going to strike with the sword and cause serious harm to her,” the police report states. “She stated she handed the phone to him, and he then purposely dropped and stepped on it to cause damage, preventing her from using it to contact others.”

Hours later, police say in their report that Atanasov slapped the alleged victim in the face multiple times with an open hand, and that there was a visible red mark under her eye.

“He then punched her with a closed fist in her stomach multiple times,” the police said. “Atanasov told (the alleged victim) he was going to kill her. This placed her in imminent fear of her life believing that he would at that time.”

During this altercation, police said Atanasov took the alleged victim’s iPhone 17 and stepped on it, causing damage to the screen and a crack in the back. He also allegedly took her notebook and destroyed the pages by tearing them to pieces.

“He then poured the contents of a can of beer over her bed,” the police stated.

Atanasov will remain in jail until his next court hearing scheduled for October 6^th.