Man gets 25 years for attempted murder of ex-girlfriend

A Houma man has been sentenced to serve 25 years in prison at hard labor in connection with the 2015 stabbing that injured his ex-girlfriend in Franklin, a news release said.

Harold Verdin, 43, of Houma, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty Jan. 8 on one count of attempted second-degree murder, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Saleme of the 16th Judicial District said in a news release.

On Nov. 15, 2015, the victim, who had ended a yearlong relationship with Verdin months earlier, was attacked as she exited the McDonald’s restaurant on Main Street in Franklin, Saleme said.

The victim received multiple stab wounds to her neck, chest and back before knocking the knife from the assailant’s hand. Thereafter, the assailant fled the scene. A folding knife with a four-inch blade was located in the parking lot near where the victim was attacked, Saleme said.

The victim identified Verdin as her attacker. On Nov. 30, 2015, Verdin was taken into custody by the Franklin Police Department. During the two weeks that Verdin was a fugitive, he admitted to having stabbed the victim to several individuals, Saleme said.