Former boyfriend charged with stalking, strangling Athens woman

Walter Clifford Scott

By Joe Johnson

A grand jury has indicted a man for assaulting his former girlfriend while in violation of a court order from a previous domestic violence incident.

According to the indictment filed last week in Clarke County Superior Court, Walter Scott was charged and with aggravated stalking, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, terroristic threats, cruelty to children, obstruction of law enforcement, and three counts of criminal trespass.

Scott has been in jail since January, when he was arrested on a family violence battery charge for allegedly punching the victim in the face, strangling her and slamming her into a wall.

He also reportedly bit the forearm of his juvenile son who had gone to his mother’s defense.

Scott also repeatedly prevented the victim leaving during the incident.

The arrest warrants indicated that Scott broke the victim’s phone by throwing it, and intentionally damaged her furniture, as well as a dog crate that has a large indentation from being impacted by the victim when Scott slammed her into it.

The indictment’s aggravated stalking charge stems from Scott’s disregard of a court order to not have contact with the victim.

When arrested on a battery charge in March 2024, a judge granted Scott bail on the condition that he not have contact with the victim, and when he assaulted the woman on Jan. 30 at her home on Bonnie Lane.

Scott is being detained without bail pending his arraignment, scheduled for April 1.

Anyone who is in an abusive relationship can seek advice and support services by calling Project Safe's 24-hour hotline at (706) 543-3331, or by visiting http://www.project-safe.org