Canadian woman recovering from surgery at home after brutal assault in Mexico
A Canadian woman who was brutally assaulted in Mexico has flown home to Vancouver where she’s recovering from emergency surgery at home.
Jamie Coutts’ skull was fractured when she and her friends were attacked outside a bar in Playa del Carmen earlier this month. The alleged attacker is a Canadian professional boxer from Ontario, who the women say would not leave them alone.
Coutts was so injured that doctors wouldn’t clear her to fly home at first. In the days after the attack, Coutts learned her condition was even worse than originally anticipated. Her skull was fractured in multiple places, leaving no support for her eyeball which doctors were concerned she may lose if she didn’t get surgery quickly.
“My eye was falling down into the crevice and with every movement of my eye the tendons holding it in were catching in the crevice of the break and ripping. Because of this he was unable to touch my nose and wanted to take me immediately to Cancun for surgery,” Coutts wrote in an update to her GoFundMe page on December 10.
Knowing that surgery in Mexico would cost tens of thousands of dollars and mean she’d need to stay several more weeks, Coutts begged the doctor to let her fly home to Canada.
He ended up signing off, and Coutts flew home with her friend, who was also injured in the attack, and a paramedic. The pilot flew the airplane at a lower-than-normal altitude to minimize aggravation of Coutts’ injuries, she wrote.
When the pair landed, they went straight to Vancouver General Hospital.
Coutts had surgery on December 13, when several metal plates were inserted between her nose and eye. Doctors also confirmed there was internal bleeding in her head, but said the blood was draining through her wound.
Doctors reset her nose, but said she may need further surgery on it in the future.
“I am currently in a lot of pain but doing okay, lots of Tylenol, tramadol, ice packs, and water/Gatorade,” Coutts said. “Thank you so much to everyone for their love and support, it truly means the world to me.”
Her online fundraiser has so far raised nearly $44,000 to cover costs associated with hospital visits in Mexico, extending their stay, flying home, and taking time off work to recover.
Alleged attacker is a Canadian man from Ontario
In a Facebook post, Coutts’ friend Genevieve Thomas alleged that the man who attacked them is Canadian professional boxer Peter Nowaczek.
According to the attorney general of Quintana Roo, a man by the name of Peter N was arrested in connection with the incident, and is facing charges of attempted murder and assault.
#Comunicado2472021Z1 | Logra FGE Quintana Roo vinculación a proceso de Peter “N” de origen extranjero por los delitos de homicidio en grado de tentativa y lesiones calificadas en agravio de dos personas del sexo femenino de identidad reservada
Leer nota: https://t.co/AB0yxJYWJD pic.twitter.com/GdgXs5Woh0
— Fiscalía General QR (@FGEQuintanaRoo) December 13, 2021
Coutts spoke out about being stalked in Vancouver earlier this year
Jamie Coutts / Facebook
Coutts’ name may be familiar to some because she was followed by a stranger in downtown Vancouver earlier this year and shared video of the frightening incident.
The man followed her for several blocks, and Coutts escaped by sitting down at a skate park and asking some skateboarders for help.
The man was later arrested for assaulting another woman and spent one day in jail before being placed on probation for a year.