A Chapel Hill restaurant owner is in jail and is facing charges for allegedly trying to kill his wife.
According to court documents, Chatham County deputies arrested Mathivanan Pothiyappan, 49, and charged him with attempted murder, assault on a female, communicating threats and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
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Pothiyappan is the owner of CholaNad Restaurant and Bar, a traditional and contemporary South Indian restaurant on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Google lists the restaurant as temporarily closed.
Court documents accused Pothiyappan of hitting his wife with a black bag full of medicine in the face and then threatening to kill her with a knife on April 4.
His wife provided a voluntary statement to the court. In her statement, she said Pothiyappan had assaulted her in the past.
"He has hit my head with dumbbells and burned me. However, today, we have been arguing since this morning and [he] eventually screamed at me and threw objects at me," his wife's statement read. "All of a sudden, he lost control, ran to the kitchen and said, 'Today, I'm going to take this knife and kill you.'"
Pothiyappan's wife later stated that she ran out of the home and that he was chasing her in his car.
According to a statement provided by Pothiyappan's daughter to deputies, she was able to call 911 after getting out of the house while he chased her mom.
Pothiyappan was given no bond and placed at the Chatham County Detention Center.