CHICAGO — The young Rogers Park woman blinded in a knife attack Wednesday may have known she was taking a chance when she agreed to meet her ex-boyfriend.
The 21-year-old had a knife in her purse when the two started arguing in the lobby of her building, prosecutors said. But Basil Mohandie took it away from her and stabbed her repeatedly with it, they said.
"The brutal attack has left the victim with injuries and repercussions that will be with her for the rest of her life," Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti told a Cook County judge Friday, when Mohandie appeared briefly in court.
She said Mohandie and the 21-year-old victim met about a year ago and started dating.
They eventually called it quits, Antonietti said. But Mohandie kept calling and calling.
On Wednesday morning the two agreed to meet, Antonietti said. They were in the lobby of the victim's Rogers Park apartment building in the 1600 block of West Touhy Avenue when they began arguing
The argument got physical, Antonietti said.
The victim took hold of the handle of a knife she had hidden in her purse, and Mohandie pulled out a canister of pepper spray.
The pepper spray "went off," Antonietti said, spraying the victim in the mouth.
Mohandie's anger mounted, and he grabbed the victim's knife, holding it so the handle was inside his closed fist and the blade protruded between two of his fingers, Antonietti said.
He started punching the victim, striking her with the blade, Antonietti said. He stabbed the victim approximately 10 times, blinding her, severing the tendons in both wrists and lacerating an artery in her leg.
The victim, who will need prosthetic eyes, was still in critical condition at the hospital Thursday morning, Antonietti said.
Mohandie is charged with attempted murder in the attack.
According to authorities, when police responded to a call of a person being battered on Wednesday, they found Mohandie standing over the woman with the knife.
Mohandie, 23, of the 6900 block of West Nelson Street, was ordered held without bail by Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan.
