‘She was engulfed in flames,’ prosecutor says of attack victim after SC man’s trial

A Midlands man is going to prison after being found guilty of attacking a woman who he doused with gasoline and set on fire, the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said Wednesday.

On Sept. 8, a Richland County jury convicted 43-year-old Keitrick Maurice Stevenson of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, the solicitor’s office said in a news release. He was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the release.

The attack happened March 21, 2022, behind a gas station on North Main Street, the solicitor’s office said.

That night, Stevenson left his aunt’s home in Blythewood to find the victim, according to the release.

He bought a pitcher and matches from a Family Dollar store, then continued searching for the victim, the solicitor’s office said. After finding her, the defendant purchased gasoline and placed it inside the pitcher and drove back to the victim’s location, according to the release.

Stevenson approached a group of people and singled out the woman, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said in 2022.

Video surveillance shows Stevenson walking up the street, approaching the victim and immediately dousing her with the gasoline in the pitcher, the solicitor’s office said. Stevenson then lit several matches as the victim backed away from him, according to the release.

As she tried to run away, she fell to the ground, the sheriff’s department said.

Stevenson then threw the last match at her and the victim was engulfed in flames, the solicitor’s office said.

She was flown by helicopter to the Joseph Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, where she spent 45 days — mostly in the intensive care unit — and had to be intubated for several weeks due to the injuries she suffered, according to the release. Further information on her condition was not available.

Stevenson was arrested, without incident, on April 5, 2022, after he was identified through his credit card purchase, and his DMV photo matched the person seen at the Family Dollar on video surveillance, the solicitor’s office said. He had a 2021 Toyota Camry registered to him that was also seen in the surveillance footage, according to the release.

After his arrest, Stevenson confessed, saying he was just trying to scare the victim, the solicitor’s office said.

There was no word about why he was trying to scare the victim or any other motive for the attack.

Stevenson was originally charged with attempted murder, said the sheriff’s department, which led the investigation.

Kathryn Cavanaugh and Paul Walton prosecuted the assault case for the solicitor’s office. Richland County court records show Stevenson was defended by Columbia attorney Zoe Amelia Bruck after being previously defended by state Rep. Todd Rutherford, a Richland County Democrat.

When Stevenson was arrested in 2022, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott called him an “extremely violent repeat offender.”

“This isn’t our first run-in with Mr. Stevenson,” Lott said. “We arrested him for stabbing a man to death in 2006. He did time for that and got out only to try and kill someone else. This man has a total disregard for human life.”

In 2007, Stevenson pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years in prison, court records show.

In 2015, he pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was sentenced to three years of probation, according to court records.

In 2006, Stevenson pleaded guilty to another drug charge, and was sentenced to time served, court records show.