The prosecutor played video from cameras in front of the home where Abdiel struggled with his sister Grace.

She started rebuking him in the name of Jesus. She felt like he had a demon in him, and she told cops so, later that same day. “I just felt like calling on the name of God, for comfort, in that time,” Grace added, when she testified six months later.

Grace, 22, had come home from college four days earlier, in May 2021. She was at her mom’s house in Escondido, and she decided to start cleaning that morning. Then she heard her older brother go into the bathroom.

Nov. 9 hearing. Manuela cried when she told the judge that she tried to contact Social Security for help with her son, but, “Nobody helped me!”

Her brother Abdiel Sarabia, 34, had left the bathroom door open and Grace could hear him “urinate all over.” She despaired of having to clean up after him.

So Grace stood in the hallway with a mop in one hand and bottle of bleach in the other and she told her brother that he had to clean that up himself. “He said, 'No I am not going to clean that, you clean it.' " She said his tone was “aggressive.” They were three feet away from each other, face to face.

“I decided to pray, I just started proclaiming the name of Jesus in that situation.” Grace said her eyes were closed when, “He started punching me with a closed fist. He did not say anything.” (Carmen, who is a slender woman, later got stitches in three different places on her face; she still has a scar around her eye.)

Grace guessed that she went unconscious, “I have a memory lapse.” She testified later, “I don’t remember coming out of the house, but my aunt saw me crawling out.”

At that address, 808 West Lincoln Avenue in Escondido, there is another home on that same property, which is where Grace’s aunt and two cousins lived. (They have all moved, now.)

Aunt Carmen said she went outside because, “I heard that my niece screamed.” Aunt Carmen saw her nephew Abdiel and her niece Grace in the driveway, “I do remember that he grabbed a brick. He was going to hit my niece, and I screamed, Abdiel! You are going to kill Grace!”

While Aunt Carmen was in the witness box she demonstrated, “He was holding it like this!” Her large nephew had one hand on each end of a concrete paver and he held it up, she said he appeared ready to bring it down, as if to crush his sister. Aunt Carmen said Abdiel was standing over his little sister who was curled up on the ground. (Grace did testify that she had memory of being on the driveway, “I crawled up in a ball, on the ground, to protect myself.”)

Aunt Carmen screamed, “Abdiel! Leave your sister! You are going to kill her!” He did turn away, but then he began to strike his aunt; this allowed Grace to get up and run. Then Abdiel, who was wearing underwear but no pants, turned to pursue his sister again, which allowed Aunt Carmen to get back into her own home and close and lock her door.

At a pre-trial hearing six months later, the prosecutor played video from cameras in front of the home, some of the struggle was captured on this video.

The frightened aunt and her two children looked through the glass around their front door and were able to see Abdiel Sarabia take a knife from a watermelon on a table in the front area.

Aunt Carmen’s teenage son Alberto opened their door just a little bit, and he shouted at his cousin Abdiel, “Put the knife down!” He shouted in English, two or three times. Alberto was able to draw his cousin’s attention away from Grace. Then Abdiel Sarabia approached his cousins’ door, and he did not drop the knife. Aunt Carmen closed and locked her door, but her large nephew was able to bust the door open in one slam; he threw his shoulder against it.

In court later, Aunt Carmen described stabs to her eye and face and neck. She showed the judge how her attacker held the knife and moved it at her throat, she demonstrated with a pen. “Here, I have a scar!” She showed the judge. Aunt Carmen said she lost vision in one eye, despite surgeries, “I can’t see, very little, it’s blurry.” She cannot read nor drive using that eye.

Aunt Carmen’s son Alberto was stabbed in his chest and arm and hand. Her fifteen-year-old daughter was able to escape and call police.

When Alberto testified, he said it took three or four minutes for police to arrive. His cousin Abdiel Sarabia still had the knife in his hand when police arrived; they told him to drop the knife, he dropped the knife “like ten seconds later.”

Alberto, 18, who is a smaller and thinner than his cousin, said he weighed 150 pounds at the time of the confrontation.

Abdiel Sarabia, 34, was arrested by Escondido police on May 24. He is described in jail records as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 235 pounds (though he looks heavier, after six months in jail).

Prosecutor Robert Bruce charged Abdiel Sarabia with seven felonies, including aggravated mayhem, attempted murders, and multiple assaults with a deadly weapon.

The court-appointed defense attorney stated that “This is a life-top case,” meaning the defendant could spend the rest of his life in jail, if convicted. Defense suggested that Abdiel Sarabia has struggled with mental illness.

Defense called Abdiel Sarabia’s mother, Manuela, to testify at the pre-trial hearing this month. Manuela testified for an hour with assistance of a Spanish-speaking interpreter. She said she left for work that morning, on May 24, 2021, she was “taking care of an old lady.” Manuela said her 34-year-old son takes meds for anxiety and depression and insomnia. Manuela cried when she told the judge that she tried to contact Social Security for help with her son, but, “Nobody helped me!”

Defendant Abdiel Sarabia has two prior criminal cases in San Diego County, one felony stolen vehicle from August 2019, and one felony resist officers from June 2020. Abdiel Sarabia was on probation during his most recent alleged crimes.

Judge Brad Weinreb ordered Sarabia held without bail.

Abdiel Sarabia will be formally re-arraigned on December 2, at 8:30 a.m. in San Diego’s North County Superior courthouse.

(The victims do not have the same last name as their attacker. And everyone has moved from that address.)