By Michele Mandel ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Vakhtang Makhniashvili, seen here in a photo taken about a month after his daughter went missing in 2009, will be sentenced Dec. 8 for attacking three people with knives.
(JACK BOLAND/Toronto Sun files)
TORONTO - Sympathy goes only so far.
Vakhtang Makhniashvili may be grieving a missing daughter, but his unprovoked stabbing spree has left four victims still struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. He haunts their nightmares and their waking hours and one by one, they took their place before him in a College Park courtroom to finally detail the physical and mental anguish they continue to endure.
While in return, the paranoid delusional, tormented man rose to offer the briefest of apologies. “I realize how much pain and trouble I’ve caused to society, my family and the victims,” he said in a small voice before being taken back to his cell.
And that is where he should remain for a good long time.
Makhniashvili, 51, has pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault. At his sentence hearing Thursday, court heard he’s been diagnosed with delusional disorder and defence lawyer Calvin Barry said it was stress over his daughter Mariam’s 2009 disappearance that precipitated his uncharacteristic violence.
He assured Justice Rebecca Rutherford that his remorseful client will take psychiatric medication and asked that Makhniashvili be sentenced to just one more year on top of the 11 months and 19 days he’s already spent behind bars.
But after hearing from his emotional victims, that can hardly be enough.
On May 7, 2010, Sean Ure and his wife were bathing their seven-month-old son Liam when there was a knock on their apartment door. Without warning, his “very violent and enraged” neighbour across the hall had plunged a knife into the 26-year-old’s abdomen, cutting him so deep that he was left holding his insides with his bloodied hands.
Makhniashvili had just learned that a decomposed body had been found and in his delusional state, believed his neighbours were responsible for killing his daughter.
“When I try to sleep at night I often see his eyes ripping into me,” the young, red bearded man said, reading his victim impact statement. “I will never forget the rage that Vakhtang had in them.”
Ure now has a scar from his ribs to his navel and spent months recuperating where he couldn’t work or even change his baby’s diaper. “I will never forget,” he said softly, “and forgiveness is very unlikely.”
His partner Sonja Dodd says their son still wakes screaming from nightmares while she can’t shake the terror of what might have been. “What if I had answered the door with Liam in my arms?” she asked.
It was then Delores Langer’s turn to take the stand. The elegant woman took several moments to compose herself before describing in heartbreaking detail how she’s a shadow of the strong, outgoing chef and volunteer she used to be.
Her only mistake was once trusting and posting bail for Makhniashvili.
On Nov. 4, 2010, just days after his son George mysteriously went missing for 13 hours, Makhniashvili viciously attacked both Langer and her husband David, holding his former sureties somehow responsible for a negative newspaper article written about him.
He stabbed Langer right through the arm, severing the nerves, tendons, and muscle fibres to the point that her left hand is now permanently disfigured and paralysed. Unable to work, drive or even do up her bra, she’s dependent on her husband for even the simplest tasks and is mired in constant pain. “I want to end my life so he doesn’t have to be constantly at my side taking care of me,” she said, her voice dissolving into sobs.
Her husband fought back his own tears as he took her place.
He was stabbed in the lower intestine, broke his right shoulder in their struggle and almost severed his left thumb trying to remove the knife . But far worse, the private investigator said, was not being able to rescue his wife.
“I was lying on my back and Vakhtang was chasing my wife with a knife and I couldn’t help,” he recalled. “She was screaming and he was attacking her and that’s something I really regret.”
Makhniashvili’s pain can’t excuse the pain he’s caused others. For his “senseless and gratuitous violence,” prosecutor John Cisorio is seeking an eight to 10 year sentence less his 11 months in custody.
The judge has reserved her decision until Dec. 8.
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/20/makhniashvili-deserves-strong-sentence
