THOMASVILLE — A man charged with slitting an elderly woman’s throat yawned as he walked away from the bench of the judge who denied him bond Thursday.

With his wrists and ankles shackled, Charles Singletary Jr., 31, appeared in Thomas County Magistrate Court a little more than 12 hours after he was arrested in the Wednesday night near-fatal attack of his 78-year-old next-door neighbor.

Noting a violent history, Chief Magistrate Grace D. Garland told Singletary, “I think right now you cannot be released back into the community.”

The victim, whose pleas for mercy, were recorded on the telephone-answering machine of a total stranger, was listed in critical condition at Archbold Memorial Hospital Thursday afternoon.

In addition to her throat being slashed, the victim sustained severe head injuries and broken bones. A butcher knife and a cane were among the weapons used in the 7:30 p.m. attack.

During the incident, the victim used her telephone to summon help. The person she called had caller ID. A woman at the number did not recognize the caller’s name and did not answer. An answering machine took the call and recorded the victim’s screams.

Suddenly, the victim’s tortured voice was heard throughout the woman’s house.

“The woman heard the lady begging and pleading for her life,” said Capt. John Richards, Thomas County Sheriff’s Department chief operations officer.

After several attempts, the woman was able to break the connection and call E-911. The call for help was made from a residence in the 200 block of Sanford Heights off U.S. 319 North.

Meanwhile, the elderly woman’s nephew was headed to his home nearby and saw a man standing behind his aunt’s vehicle in her front yard. The man ran to the back yard, jumped a fence, ran into a neighboring mobile home park and disappeared.

The nephew returned to the woman’s house as a deputy arrived. The officer entered the house and found the fully clothed victim, drenched in blood, lying on the kitchen floor.

Three Thomasville-based assistant district attorneys and personnel from the Thomasville regional office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were called to the scene.

Neighbors told lawmen that Singletary, by then the suspect, left the neighborhood with another individual.

About an hour later, an agent of the Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division stopped the individual at U.S. 19 and U.S. 319. The man told officers he dropped Singletary off at a business on the west side of the city.

About 1 a.m. Thursday, Singletary, 269 Sanford Heights, was arrested on grounds of Wood Valley Apartments off Altman Avenue, Richards said.

The officer said a weapon was found several yards from the victim’s residence, but he would not elaborate on the type. Neither would Richards discuss evidence recovered at the scene.

Robbery, he said, appears to be the motive of the attack.

In denying bond, Garland said the victim’s checkbook and a cordless telephone were taken.

When Garland asked the defendant if he had a job, his response could not be understood. Garland asked Singletary the question a second time. The response was the same.

“Speak up!” Richards, who was standing next to the defendant, ordered. “Speak up!”

“Odds and ends,” Singletary told Garland, describing his work.

Earlier, a deputy ordered Singletary to tuck in the shirt of his two-piece, dark-blue jail uniform. Security was tight in the Jail-Justice Center courtroom.

Singletary is charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime.

If convicted, the defendant faces maximum penalties of life imprisonment on kidnapping and armed robbery and 20 years each on aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

Singletary told Garland he does not have a lawyer.

Steps are under way at the Thomas County Jail for the defendant to apply for a public defender.