Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov, who is accused of punching his wife at a Halloween party they attended and allegedly kicking and choking her at their Redondo Beach home, was ordered Monday to stand trial on a felony domestic violence charge.
Voynov, 24, is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 29 on a single count of corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury.
During a preliminary hearing before Superior Court Judge Hector M. Guzman, Redondo Beach police Officer Gregory Wiist said he spoke to Voynov’s wife — Marta Varlamova — at Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, where she was being treated in the early morning hours of Oct. 20.
“She was crying, sobbing,” Wiist said. “I saw tears streaming down her face. She was an emotional wreck.”
Wiist said Varlamova had a laceration above her left eye that was bleeding, and she had red marks on her neck.
The woman “told me that she was involved in a physical altercation with her husband,” Wiist testified, noting that she identified her husband as Voynov and said he was number 26 for the Los Angeles Kings.
Wiist said that according to Varlamova, the couple began arguing while attending a Halloween party the night of Oct. 19, and when they went outside, Voynov punched her in the face.
The couple went home, where the argument continued, and Voynov threw her to the ground multiple times, repeatedly kicked her and choked her three times, Wiist said Varlamova told him. She also said her husband pushed her into a flat-screen television on the wall, and her face struck the corner of it, Wiist said.
She said the attack continued until Voynov saw the blood coming from her face after she struck the television, according to Wiist. He said that according to Varlamova, she asked Voynov to call for “emergency services,” but he instead called a friend and then drove her to the hospital.
The injury to Varlamova’s eye required eight stitches, Wiist said.
Voynov was arrested at the hospital.
Wiist said police took Varlamova back to the couple’s home, where he said he observed blood on a comforter and the floor, along with a bloody handprint on the floor.
Redondo Beach police had initially responded to the home the night of Oct. 19 on a report of a domestic dispute, but nobody was home when officers arrived. Police were called to the Torrance hospital about an hour later.
Guzman rejected defense motions to dismiss the case or reduce the charge.
Upon cross-examining the officer, one of Voynov’s attorneys, Pamela Mackey, noted that Voynov’s wife said police officers had not allowed her to speak with Voynov and that Varlamova told the officer that Voynov could help her because she didn’t speak English.
The officer acknowledged that he did not seek out his department’s help in trying to get a Russian interpreter.
He said he was unaware of Varlamova’s subsequent account that what had happened was an accident.
The judge refused to allow the admission of a letter Varlamova wrote regarding what she said occurred that night.
Varlamova was not in court for the hearing, during which the officer was the sole witness to testify.
Voynov was immediately suspended indefinitely with pay by the NHL following his arrest. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, the Kings were fined $100,000 by the National Hockey League for allowing Voynov to skate with the team during a “club practice.” The Kings acknowledged the mistake and vowed to be “more vigilant in managing this situation.”
The Stanley Cup-winning hockey player — whose first name is Viatcheslav — is from Chelyabinsk, Russia.
— City News Service