CHULA VISTA (CNS) – A 27-year-old Texas man accused of stabbing a woman nearly a dozen times with a pair of scissors and setting her on fire inside a National City motel room pleaded not guilty Wednesday to attempted murder, arson and pimping charges.

Bail was set at $3 million for Jeremiah Dayvon King, who is accused of attacking the victim about 3 a.m. Dec. 13 at the Rodeway Inn on Roosevelt Avenue, just east of Interstate 5.

Officers arrived at the scene and found that other motel guests had extinguished the blaze and pulled the woman from the room, according to National City police Capt. Alex Hernandez.

The victim, whose name was withheld, was hospitalized with life- threatening injuries. In addition to stab wounds and burns, Deputy District Attorney Jalyn Wang said the woman suffered a stroke as a result of the attack and has not fully recovered her vision.

Wang alleged King was the victim’s pimp and on Dec. 13, beat and strangled her, in addition to stabbing her 11 times with a pair of scissors, which were protruding from her neck when bystanders dragged her from the burning motel room.

The prosecutor alleged King lit the victim on fire and “left her to die” before fleeing the motel.

King was arrested four days later in the 300 block of Oxford Street in Chula Vista. Police spotted him walking in the area about 12:45 p.m., and captured him after he initially fled from officers, Hernandez said.