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A mother says she does not feel hatred or anger towards a man who stabbed her daughter in the head in an unprovoked attack last week.
Kyli Watts, 24, was walking along a street in North Hollywood at around 11.30am on 10 October, when a homeless man stabbed her in the back of the head with a pair of gardening shears.
The attack was totally unprovoked, and Kyli ran to a nearby restaurant - with the four-inch weapon still in her skull - to seek help.
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Staff immediately called for help and Kyli was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery.
Speaking to KTLA 5, Kyli's mum, Amy Watts, explained she doesn't have any anger towards the man - who has been arrested.
"It could have been catastrophic," she said.
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"She suffered a traumatic brain injury, the object remained lodged in her skull. She Facetimed me within a minute or two of this event happening.
"She went straight into surgery, she had an emergency craniotomy, they removed the foreign object as well as multiple bone fragments that were a result of the blunt force trauma. I'm very lucky that my baby is alive right now, very lucky."
Amy explained that despite the circumstances, she has no ill-feelings towards the man responsible for the crime.
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"There is no ill-regard towards this human. No anger, no bad feelings. We've been a foster family for 15 years, taking care of some severely mentally ill individuals," she said.
"She understands this is a very sick person. I'm a psychiatric nurse I also work with that population, this is a problem that we as a society have to look at and figure out what's next because this is just going to get worse."
A GoFundMe page has now been set up by a friend to help Kyli with her medical expenses.
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"On Monday, October 10, my best friend Kyli was the victim of a violent crime in LA," the page explains.
"That morning, around 11:30 AM, Kyli was walking to a local coffee shop. As she passed a man on the street, he, completely unprovoked, stabbed her in the back of her head with scissors (surgeon described them as garden shears)."
According to the fundraiser, Kyli had recently lost her job and currently has no health insurance. It is thought she will be remaining in hospital for the next two weeks. Any money donated that is not used for medical purposes will be donated to mental health organisations.
Topics: News
Lucy Devine