A 47-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday in New London Superior Court to beating his sister-in-law with a shovel in February 2015, inflicting severe injuries.

Jicun Jicun, who has been held in lieu of $250,000 since the incident, accepted a plea deal offered by prosecutor David J. Smith that involves a sentence of up to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of special parole.

Under the agreement, Jicun's attorney, Edgar Fankbonner, will have the opportunity to argue for a shorter sentence when Jicun appears before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein for sentencing on Sept. 29.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree assault under the Alford Doctrine, which signals he does not agree with the state's version of the case but does not want to risk a heftier sentence if convicted at trial.

According to Montville police, the 25-year-old victim suffered a fractured skull, broken left wrist, injuries to the eye and ear and multiple lacerations.

Police found the victim lying in the back seat of a car, her head and clothes covered in blood, after being called to the Henny Penny on Route 32. A woman at the scene said she had driven her sister there from their nearby apartment.

Officers went to the home, where they said there were large amounts of blood in the snow and on the entry way. They said they found Jicun, who had blood on his right cheek and said he had been drinking.

A woman who lived at the home told the police she had heard a man and woman yelling, running up and down the stairs and throwing things for approximately 45 minutes. She said something hit the door to her room and when she opened it to see what happened, she saw Jicun strike the victim three times with a garden shovel as the victim was lying curled up on the ground.