A woman who had her hands chopped off with a machete in a violent dispute with a neighbour crawled into her backyard to get help before passing out in a pool of blood, distraught witnesses said Wednesday.
"It was one of the most gruesome sights I have ever seen," said Anthony Barnes, a neighbour who ran to help the screaming woman.
"I heard her scream, 'Help me, help me.' Both her hands were just hanging on the tendons and she was bleeding profusely. My brother called 911 and I kept her talking so she wouldn't pass out before the ambulance arrived."
The 44-year-old victim, a single mother of five, was taken to Toronto Western Hospital where doctors were trying to reattach her hands. She was also treated for a gash to her leg and several head wounds.
"If she didn't make it outside her kids would have come home to find her there dead," said one sobbing woman who called 911 after hearing her neighbours' painful cries for help.
"She crawled through the house and no one heard nothing until she was outside screaming."
The attack happened moments after Children's Aid and police seized four children from the neighbour's home. The police and CAS had just left with the children when the attack happened.
The suspect allegedly attacked the woman, believing she had called Children's Aid. Neighbours said it was the children's school that called the agency because they hadn't seen a classroom since October.
"The turnover was done without incident. I wouldn't say calm, but it was done without incident," Det. Chuck Vanderheyden said.
"The police were there for some time. But it wasn't a wrenching-away of the children by any stretch of the imagination. The mother ultimately surrendered the children."
The police and the CAS workers led the children away. They were walking away from the home, and within minutes panicked neighbours were shouting for the police to come back.
"Police did not witness the attack but were in the area. The kids did not see it either," Vanderheyden said.
When they went to a house near the one from which they had removed the children, officers found a bleeding woman with her hands severed.
The detective said only minutes had elapsed from the time the children were led away until the attack occurred. "It's freaky. It's a nasty assault," he said.
The victim's sister said her sister is a caring woman who would do anything for anyone.
"She begged and begged them to do something," the woman said, apparently in reference to her sister calling the CAS. "Now she's got no hands."
She said the two neighbours have a history of battling one another.
The main concern for neighbours is how the woman is going to care for her kids, including 14-year-old twin boys, one with diabetes who needs shots and the other with asthma.
The accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, has been charged with aggravated assault and fail to appear.
