The woman said Norwood choked her so hard her voice turned to a “squeaky whisper.” The woman said Norwood tackled her and told her he was going to kill her and burn down her home. She said she continues to be haunted by daily memories of the attack and from physical injuries she suffered.

“By the grace of God, I survived,” the woman said.

Tania Kregar, a Henrico assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said the August 2016 attack happened over the course of an entire evening.

“She was subjected to hours and hours and hours of violence,” Kregar told the judge.

The prosecutor said that during the attack, Norwood had used a knife with a serrated blade more than 6 inches long to cut the woman.

Kregar said Norwood told police repeatedly during questioning that he had been drinking at the time of the incident, had no recollection of what happened and that he did not doubt the woman’s version of events. But Kregar said Norwood has since changed his story, accusing the woman of lying and saying the incident never happened.

Circuit Judge James Stephen Yoffy said that was an indication Norwood had not accepted responsibility for his actions.