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Last Friday night, a man forced his way into Leslie’s House, a shelter for women in High Point, and viciously attacked Holi Olga Grant, kicking and punching her, a witness told police.

"Grant has lost consciousness and had severe swelling and bleeding from her head and face. She was transported to High Point Regional Hospital," the police report said.

This was the second assault on Grant, 30, in three weeks. Phillip Jeremy Holland, 36, was charged both times: assault by strangulation on March 30 and assault inflicting serious injury on April 18.

Holland was arrested April 15 in connection with the first assault and released the same day by magistrate Neill Jennings on nothing more than a written promise to appear — despite the serious charge and his criminal history: Holland has served time in state prison for assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats and assault on a female.

Holland is in jail now with bond set at $500,000 — too late to protect Grant. A substantial bond should have been set the first time. Why wasn’t it?

In an interview Thursday, Chief District Court Judge Joseph E. Turner defended Jennings’ decision: "Based on the information he had at the time, he did the right thing."

That included a belief that the March 30 assault wasn’t as serious as it might have appeared at first and that Grant wanted the charge dropped. Whether that belief was correct isn’t clear.

The case technically was not classified as domestic violence because Holland and Grant weren’t living together and had a casual relationship. In domestic violence cases, the suspect is locked up for 48 hours before seeing a judge and prosecution proceeds even without the victim’s cooperation.

But High Point police Capt. Larry Casterline said Thursday he’s not aware Grant tried to withdraw charges. Furthermore, he noted that the responding officer, C.B. O’Toole, immediately acted to pursue the March 30 case.

"If we’re sure an assault has taken place — clear evidence — we’re going to make an arrest," Casterline said.

A magistrate issued a warrant for Holland’s arrest, indicating probable cause was found, Casterline said.

When Holland was arrested April 15 and brought before Jennings, the magistrate didn’t have information about Holland’s criminal history. He checked for an arrest record in Guilford County but found none, Turner said.

"I think it would have been better if he’d checked the statewide record," Turner said.

Doing so would have turned up Holland’s prison history and should have led to a better decision.

Grant was still hospitalized but doing better, the Rev. Jim Summey, pastor of English Road Baptist Church in High Point, said Wednesday. His church is part of West End Ministries, which operates Leslie’s House as a shelter for single women who are homeless or, in some cases, trying to separate from a husband or boyfriend. Friday’s attack was "very disturbing for us," Summey said. "We were all just so upset."

Grant isn’t the first victim of multiple assaults, Chris Preston, a victim witness coordinator for the District Attorney’s Office in High Point, said Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, this happens very often," she sighed. "Time and again, we see the same victims, the same defendants. ... There’s a horrible, horrendous cycle of domestic violence."

High Point police try to break that cycle with a "very pro-arrest policy. In all domestic violence situations, if there’s any sign at all that there’s an assault, we’re going to pursue it," Casterline said.

The March 30 incident was "not a clear-cut domestic violence situation," he added, but there was evidence of an assault. "Clearly something happened." The officer’s original report indicated "minor" injuries to the victim.

She wasn’t as lucky the second time.

"Quite frankly, the reason we go to the lengths we go to is because of this exact situation," Casterline said.

Judge Turner called it "terrible and regrettable ... the worst nightmare" of a magistrate or judge: "You release somebody and they go out and do more harm."

That’s always a risk, especially in Guilford County, where overcrowded jails lack room for all the offenders who probably ought to be locked up.

There’s no simple answer to that problem, but when someone who’s obviously dangerous can be locked up, he should be locked up — or else someone else may get hurt.

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