A Bermudian man has been arrested in Maryland for stabbing a female friend in the back in a bizarre replay of a crime he committed on the Island 14 years ago.

Richard Clement Vivian, 54, was arrested in Easton, Maryland, on January 10 of this year for stabbing his friend Anna Schirmer, 50, in the back in an apparently unprovoked attack.

For no discernible reason, Vivian stabbed the woman in the right lower back with an unknown weapon, according to Maryland Police, while he was at her house on the afternoon of January 10.

He has since been charged with first degree assault, second degree assault, reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon with intent to injure and was released on $10,000 bail to await trial.

The Easton Star Democrat reported Vivian told Police he does not know how the stabbing happened although he and Schirmer were alone in the home at the time.

The eerie similarity the incident bears to a stabbing Vivian committed in Bermuda in 1988 led Maryland Police to contact The Royal Gazette.

That year, in an unprovoked attack, Vivian stabbed his friend Marion Outerbridge in the back with a steak knife following a dinner party.

In 1989, Vivian was sentenced to two and a half years in Bermuda prison for the strange attack after pleading guilty to assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Initial charges of attempted murder were dropped apparently due to the lack of motive for the attack.

Until the stabbing on September 15, 1988, the he and Miss Outerbridge had a friendly relationship.

At the time, Vivian - who is believed to hold both Bermudian and American citizenship - was working as manager of the Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant.

According to The Royal Gazette report on the sentencing, the court heard that the two had dined with another man and a woman at a home Vivian was house-sitting in Paget.

After the other pair left and he and Miss Outerbridge were left alone, Vivian approached her from behind, put one arm around her neck and chest and stabbed the steak knife into her lower back so deeply the blade touched her right kidney.

As Miss Outerbridge fell to the floor, Vivian began punching and kicking at her head and shoulders until she pleaded that he stop.

In Vivian's defence, lawyer Julian Hall argued he had been mentally disturbed and reports from two psychologists were produced for the court.

The reports said Vivian suffered from "repressed personality disorder in close male/female relationships".

Mr. Hall also suggested that Vivian had a troubled relationship with a domineering mother which had led to years of pent-up frustrations.

"This was not the act of a self-motivated person, but that of a deeply disturbed young man desperately in need of assistance," said Mr. Hall.

Crown prosecutor Brian Calhoun appealed the case later that year on the grounds the short prison term was "manifestly inadequate".

In the Appeal Court, Mr. Calhoun said Vivian's only motive for stabbing Miss Outerbridge seemed to be to keep her from leaving the Paget home.

However, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence without even hearing arguments from Mr. Hall.

In the judgment Judge Denys Roberts wrote:

"He attacked a woman friend with a kitchen knife and the circumstances of that attack, and the only one blow which he struck with the knife, suggested that there was no form of premeditation by him."

He added: "The (original) judge said he had taken into account the plea of guilty, the ready confession, the cooperation with Police and the genuine remorse.

It was, he said, a very unusual case and the defendant is clearly in need of psychological and psychiatric treatment."

He continued: "We cannot say that he is wrong if he regards these reports as amounting to a mitigating factor which he should take into account when imposing sentence on a defendant."

Vivian's victim also agreed that he desperately needed psychological counselling.

In an interview with the Bermuda Sun following the sentencing, Miss Outerbridge said: "A large part of me believes he is mentally unstable, so whether it is two, 20 or 30 years in prison, without help, it will do nothing.

"He could come out still the same way and possibly do it all over again."

According to the Easton Star Democrat, State Troopers said Vivian's account of the afternoon and that of Ms Schirmer's are consistent.

Ms Schirmer told Police the stabbing was not an accident and definitely deliberate.

And, while emergency personnel and State Troopers were at her home, Vivian even called to check on Ms Schirmer's welfare.

Troopers asked Vivian to return to the home and he did so.

He has also written a statement of apology to Ms Schirmer.

Vivian has been ordered to have no contact with the woman and to stay away from her home.