A jealous husband cut off both his wife’s hands with an ax after accusing her of having a secret lover.
The savage, medieval-style attack has appalled Russian doctors who have sewed one hand back onto the victim, but they couldn’t save the other hand.
Dmitry Grachyov, 26, took his wife, Margarita, the mother of his two children, to a forest after accusing her of being unfaithful, according to reports in Moscow.
He first used an ax to strike her fingers as he sought to torture her into a confession, but she denied his accusations, say reports based on police sources.
He then severed one hand followed by the other.
With blood gushing from both arms, Dmitry drove his wife to the hospital and gave himself up to police.
Margarita needed a “highly complex” nine-hour operation to reconnect one hand after the attack by her husband, who has been called “Othello with an ax.”
Pictures of the reconnected left hand were released Wednesday.
The right hand and arm were “too damaged” in the gruesome attack to be saved, doctors say.
A video showed Grachyov in a court cage after he was detained.
He has been remanded in custody pending an investigation into the incident.
The couple have been married for five years and have two children, sons ages 3 and 4.
Before attacking Margarita, Dmitry demanded she be tested on a lie detector.
Margarita agreed, but Dmitry mutilated her anyway, said police.
Friends saw the couple as “close and loving.”
A colleague of Margarita, who worked in marketing and was organizing a beauty contest in the Moscow region, said: “She’s really open. But she didn’t tell me anything was wrong.”
Other friends said she was preparing to divorce her husband.
She had previously called the police over her husband’s behavior, but they only “talked to him,” according to one report.
A family friend said Dmitry had once told Margarita: “I’ll kill you. If need be, I’ll go to jail.”
The unnamed microsurgeon, who believes his team saved one hand, said: “We started at 6:50 p.m. and finished at 3:50 a.m.”
“Let’s hope that it is not in vain because so many people participated in seeking to (mend the severed hand).”
The surgeon continued: “The case shocked even us — a normal person cannot do this.”
The chief physician of City Hospital No 7 in Serpukhov, Alexander Myasnikov, said: “I am immensely proud of my doctors.
“This was an outrageous case – a young woman had both hands cut off.
“I just cannot show the original pictures.
“It is just a bloody mess, even I have to strain and prepare myself to look at them.
“The surgical team did an incredible job – sewing her up even though this seemed impossible at first.”
The macabre attack went down near Panikovo village on Dec. 11. Panikovo is about 60 miles south of Moscow.