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Marguerite Dias Sentenced in Machete Attack

March 15, 2005 permalink

Today Marguerite Dias was sentenced for the machete attack on Madelene Monast. The Toronto newspapers suppressed the name of the attacker, but the Ottawa Citizen published it. The article below comes from the National Post.

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Machete attacking mom sentenced

TORONTO (CP) -- A woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for hacking off her neighbour's hands in a savage machete attack.

The 40-year-old woman had pleaded guilty earlier to the attempted murder of Madelene Monast on June 11, 2003.

She wrongly believed Monast had reported her to the Children's Aid Society. In fact, the agency had been notified by school authorities. The CAS and police took four of her five children into custody. They have all since been returned to her mother's care.

On Tuesday, the woman was handed a 10-year prison sentence which, in effect, becomes a six-year sentence when time-served is factored in.

Court heard that the woman took a machete and ambushed Monast in her townhouse.

Monast instinctively tried to shield herself with her hands, but the woman severed her left hand "leaving it hanging by some tissue" and cutting the side of her face, the Crown said.

A frightened Monast hid behind a basement door as the woman tried to hack through it with the machete. When it appeared quiet, Monast emerged, but the woman swung again, severing her victim's right hand.

Emergency surgery re-attached Monast's hands, but the fingers on her right hand aren't functional and her wrist has been fused.

The attacker still faces an assault with a weapon charge, laid in 2002, for allegedly hurling beer bottles at Monast.

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