A brave Russian woman has been reunited with her two young sons for the first time since her husband axed off her two hands in a fit of jealousy.
Margarita Grachyova, 25, hugged her boys as she was released from hospital two and a half weeks after the vicious assault.
One severed hand has been sewn back on and she hopes to regain its use, but she lost the other one in the cruel attack.
She has told her sons she will have a ‘robot’ hand on the other wrist – but is not revealing to them the true reason, namely a crazed attack by her violent husband Dmitry Grachyov, 26, who wrongly suspected her of an affair after she demanded a divorce.
Margarita Grachyova, 25, hugged her boys as she was released from hospital two and a half weeks after the vicious assault
He now faces up to 15 years in jail for the attack.
‘I don’t want to involve them into all this, leading to some negative feelings about their dad,’ Margarita said of her children Dmitry, five, and Danil, three.
‘He is still their dad.
‘I told them that I got into car accident and on my right arm I will have a hand like a robot.
Margarita said she did not want to involve her children Dmitry, five, and Danil, three, in the horrific attack by telling them the true cause of her injuries
Margarita, pictured in hospital, has already begun to type messages to well-wishers on social media, using her elbow
‘They took it normally, they are still little kids, they do not understand yet.’
Despite this, she remains scared of her husband after he drove her to a forest near Moscow and chopped off her hands.
‘He told me, ‘I’ll come back and finish you off’, she said.
‘So yes of course I am very scared of him.
‘He said: “When I’m free, I will kill you.”‘
But in court, her husband, a trained psychologist, said: ‘I feel guilty for what I’ve done.
Margarita’s left hand following surgery, after Dmitry Grachyov, 26 (right), who wrongly suspected Margarita of an affair, drove her to a forest and cut off her hands
‘What I did was incredibly stupid, to put it very mildly.’
Margarita is home in time for New Year which by tradition here is when Grandfather Frost – the Russian Santa – delivers presents to children.
Smiling she said: ‘I am asking them what they want Grandfather Frost to bring, and orders are big.
‘They want excavators and cement-making lorries.’
The extraordinary woman refuses to be defeated by the devastating attack.
She has even started replying to social media messages – using her elbow to type.
‘I want to say thank you to everyone who got in touch during these days, and sent words of hope and love,’ she said.
Grachyov, a trained psychologist, accused Margarita – who works in marketing – of an affair with a work colleague, which both deny
One hand was sewn on in nine-hour surgery and Margarita can already move one finger only weeks after the attack
‘It’s not easy to type, but I am determined to answer all messages.
‘When I opened my social media, I had more than 3,000 friendship requests and even more messages from people everywhere.’
Margarita attacked the police for failing to take her succession of complaints of domestic violence seriously.
‘They told me, “this is love”,’ she said.
‘No-one treats such complaints seriously.’
Surgeon Valery Chichkin, head of microsurgical department of Number 71 hospital in Moscow, said: ‘The first stage of Margarita’s treatment is over.
Margarita is home in time for New Year which by tradition here is when Grandfather Frost – the Russian Santa – delivers presents to children
A remarkable medical image shows how Margarita’s hand has been pieced together after the axe attack
‘She is checking out to continue treatment locally at her hospital, and going home to celebrate New Year.
‘She will need at least one more surgery to remove the spokes that hold the bones of our patient’s hand.
‘She will need a very long rehabilitation period under our supervision, to help restore the sensitivity of her hand.’
A remarkable medical image shows how her hand has been pieced together after the axe attack.
But progress is good as she can move her fingers.
The Russian woman has told her sons that she was in a car accident and that she will now have a ‘robot’ hand