By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-15 22:49:03 | Updated at 2024-11-22 13:56:58
6 days ago
An Ontario teen was brutality attacked by her vicious ex-boyfriend who hit her with his SUV and tried to 'chop her head off' with a sword.
Kaylie Smith, 16, was getting off a bus after work on a quiet road when her ex-boyfriend, Phillipe Rivard-Gagnon, 18, allegedly hit her with his car on November 3.
He then went after her with a machete, police said.
Kaylie's cousin Paige Smith described the horrifying alleged assault to The Sudbury Star: 'He used his vehicle to pin her against rocks so that he could get out and mutilate her.
'He was trying to chop her head off. The wounds - they walk you through it and they told a story. She was fighting. She fought him off, after being run over by a car.'
A GoFundMe Paige made for Kaylie claims her ex severed her left hand and tore up her right arm to the point where it 'was hanging on in ribbons.'
He then allegedly hacked at her head and body with the sword before he 'fled, leaving her to die'
The. Ontario Provincial Police told The Sudbury Star they responded to a car crash around 6 pm and found Kaylie with potentially fatal injuries at the scene after an 'altercation' with someone.
Kaylie Smith, 16, was allegedly attacked by her estranged ex-boyfriend on November 3, leaving her with severe injuries
Kaylie's family said her right arm was practically ripped to shreds and Phillipe Rivard-Gagnon was trying to 'mutilate' her
Kaylie was rushed to the nearby Temiskaming Hospital before being airlifted to the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
Rivard-Gagnon was arrested that evening after his mother turned him in to the police, the National Post reported.
He was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and breach of conditional sentence.
The last charge is because the estranged ex-boyfriend assaulted Kaylie's stepfather in May and he was sentenced to house arrest and other restrictions - which he allegedly violated by going out to harm Kaylie.
Paige wrote on the GoFundMe that her beloved cousin made it through a 16-hour brain surgery. She has cuts all over her body, including her shoulders and her back.
Paige told The Sudbury Star: 'He didn’t just hit her once or twice with a machete. He mutilated her.
'Kaylie is incredibly strong and resilient. It’s mind-blowing, the amount of trauma she went through.
'Even the doctors here are in awe of her strength.'
Kaylie was coming home from work was her attacker struck, sending shockwaves through her 'quiet' community
Kaylie's mother, Cindy Smith, has described the past couple of weeks as 'a blur'
Community members came together to host a candlelit vigil to honor Kaylie
Considering the severity of her injuries, Kaylie's family members and healthcare providers are stunned by her strength during her grueling recovery.
'The fact she is already trying to move is blowing their minds. She’s fighting the sleep. She wants to be awake. She wants to speak,' Paige added.
Paige also said it was a 'miracle' that Rivard-Gagnon missed her spinal cord, face and of vital organs.
Kaylie's mother, Cindy Smith, is relieved her daughter is in stable condition.
'It's just like a big blur. It doesn't seem real,' she told CBC. 'One minute we're living life, and the next minute we're here at the hospital, fighting for her life. I just don't get it.'
Kaylie has been heavily sedated, but doctors have woken her up periodically 'to keep her brain activity going,' Paige told The Sudbury Star. But she cannot be fully woken up just yet because she is too weak.
Paige added: 'She opened her eyes and she recognized her mother and her sister, and she knows the family is here, but she’s still intubated, so she can’t speak.
'We’re waiting for the tube to come out. It’s day-by-day, surgery after surgery, trying to piece her back together.'
Kaylie's community has rallied on her behalf against the abuse she endured, demanding justice and that Rivard-Gagnon is not offered bail.
About two dozen protestors came together in front of the Haileybury courthouse on Tuesday morning, holding signs that read 'Justice for Kaylie' and 'No bail' just before Rivard-Gagnon's hearing.
The hearing was postponed for two weeks, as requested by Rivard-Gagnon's lawyer.
The alleged attempted murderer attended the courtroom virtually from his cell at the North Bay jail, CTV News reported.
One of the protestors, Kessie Pellerin, told the outlet: 'We're f****** terrified.
Kaylie's GoFundMe has received over $100,000 in donations to support her long recovery
People gather not only at the vigil, but in front of the courthouse while Rivard-Gagnon had his hearing
'This is usually a quiet town and nothing like this usually happens. That never happens in Temiskaming Shores.'
'Domestic violence is no joke. To go through something like that, her whole life has changed, and that breaks my heart,' another demonstrator, Kaylee Kennedy, told CBC. 'She's never going to be the same again.'
In another community effort, a candlelit vigil was held over the weekend to pray for Kaylie's recovery and for justice.
So far, her GoFundMe has raised over $100,000.
This tragic instance comes after a Florida teen shot and killed her boyfriend in August.
Jamalyse Alvarez, 16, was arrested without incident more than a week after she fatally shot her boyfriend, David Anthony Vargas Acker, also 16, around 1am July 30.
Deputies from the Orange County Sheriff's Office said David brought the gun and the couple and their friend were pointing and posing with the revolver.
During the 'gun play,' Alvarez reportedly pointed the gun at her boyfriend before pulling the trigger shooting him dead.
