“I was trying to kill the cat and she is the cat.” That was how Ferna Quesner, 34, of Lake Worth, Fla., explained a grisly attack on her mother that has left the 59-year-old fighting for her life at an area hospital.
NBC affiliate WPTV reports that Quesner was arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery after beating her mother senseless with a metal pole and cutting her eyes out with a kitchen knife. The attack, which occurred the night of July 4, left the older woman bleeding into the brain and — if she survives — totally blind. Blonia Quesner also suffered a broken nose and two broken arms.
According to the arrest report, the younger Quesner allegedly dragged her mother by the hair and beat her with a pole and a 10-pound weight. Neighbors hearing the commotion, which initially included screams, called 911. When deputies arrived, they say they found Ferna standing over her mother’s unconscious and bloody body. Nearby officers also found a pair of human eyes lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood.
As she was being taken into custody, Ferna told deputies, “I don’t want to go to prison,” the Sun-Sentinel reported. The paper further notes, citing Palm Beach County court records, that Ferna Quesner was the subject of four court hearings under the Florida Mental Health Act between November 2001 and March 2013. Also known as the Baker Act, the law allows for people to be involuntarily committed for a mental health examination.
Ferna Quesner is being held at Palm Beach County Jail.
