Indicted Student Granted Mobility

Anna L. Tang, the Wellesley College junior who allegedly stabbed her ex-boyfriend on Oct. 23 and is under house arrest, received court permission on Monday to use a gym in her apartment complex and participate in church services in Natick, Mass.

“She is allowed now to go to Mass one day a week on Saturdays,” said Robert A. George, Tang’s lawyer. “She is allowed to exercise. Everything we’ve asked for has been received. That’s not to say that is enough. Right now I’m satisfied with the fact that she’s not incarcerated.”

Tang, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of home invasion and armed assault with intent to murder, has been under house arrest since Jan. 9, when she had been released from prison on $10,000 bail.

“She is basically under electronic house arrest, which is the equivalent of being detained,” George said. “As time goes on, and she demonstrates the need for more—go to the doctor, take a course somewhere, something benign—I hope that it will be something the court will grant.”

The alleged victim in the case, Wolfe B. Styke, is a sophomore at MIT whom Tang dated for several years. Their relationship ended at the beginning of October, according to court documents.

Though the two were at first on friendly terms, Tang soon began to send threatening e-mails to Styke. On one occasion, court documents say, she even told Styke that she was going to get a knife to harm either herself or another person.

The incident for which Tang has been charged began on the night of Oct. 22 when she saw Styke studying with a female friend, according to court documents.

She attempted to gain access to Styke’s dorm room from a security guard, but she was refused. She then waited until the shift change for security guards before she tried again. At approximately 5:30 a.m., according to court documents, she managed to get a key from someone who recognized her as Styke’s girlfriend.

Tang entered Styke’s room while he was sleeping and, after waiting 45 minutes, attacked him, stabbing him repeatedly in the neck and torso. After waking up and struggling with Tang, Styke managed to call the police.

Tang was arrested later that day, and even said “here I am” when a police officer at the scene asked Styke where his attacker was, according to court documents. When she was arrested, Tang had blood on her hands and clothes.

Tang is no longer a student at Wellesley College, according to Wellesley spokeswoman Mary Ann Hill.

Suzanne M. Kontz, the Middlesex County assistant district attorney in charge of the domestic violence abuse unit, who is handling the case, was not available for comment.

—Staff writer Kevin C. Leu can be reached at kleu@fas.harvard.edu.