FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida man is facing attempted murder and aggravated assault charges after authorities said he stabbed his girlfriend’s throat and eyes, blinding her, and threw their baby girl from a window.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel and WTVJ, the incident occurred Saturday at a home on Northwest 12th Court in Fort Lauderdale. A woman told investigators that her son, Pierre Francois, 29, appeared to be having a schizophrenic episode when he attacked her with a piece of wood, telling her to “stop hurting his mother” as she tried to reply that she was his mother, a Broward County Sheriff’s Office arrest report said.
The woman said Francois then went into another room with a knife and attacked his girlfriend, with whom he shares a 1-year-old daughter, according to the report. Authorities said he also threw their baby from a window, according to the news outlets.
The unresponsive child, who appears to have suffered traumatic brain injuries, remains in critical condition and is on life support at a nearby hospital, the outlets reported. Francois’ girlfriend suffered multiple lacerations to her neck and face and likely was permanently blinded in the attack, authorities told the Sun Sentinel. The wounds are considered life-threatening, the newspaper reported.
Francois’ mother, who suffered a dislocated thumb and fractured arms, said her son stopped taking his schizophrenia medication and may have also been taking a narcotic, according to WTVJ.
Francois was treated at the hospital before being booked at the Broward Main Jail, where he is being held on $550,000 bail, the Sun Sentinel reported.