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A woman has recounted how her ex-partner attacked her with a sword.

On January 21st 2003, Antoine Dixon attacked his ex-partner Simonne Butler with a samurai sword, severing both of her arms.

After marathon surgery and dozens of operations, Simonne's arms were reattached. Her friend Renee Gunbie, who was with her at the time, lost one of her hands.

Dixon then stole a vehicle and drove to Auckland, where he shot dead a man called James Te Aute. Two years later, he was given a life sentence for murder, wounding, kidnapping and using a firearm against a police officer.

He killed himself in jail. Simonne told 5 live's Nihal Arthanayake what happened on that day in 2003:

"So both of us put our arms up to defend ourselves and eventually our hands came off because, well because he was attacking us with a sword, so my left hand came off at the wrist and I caught it as it fell and my left thumb was also severed."

She went on to explain the feeling of waking up with her hands reattached:

"The nurse was fiddling around at the end of my bandages and she said ‘I’m just taking your finger temperature’ and I said ‘I don’t have fingers’. She said ‘yes you do’, and I said ‘no I don’t’. She said ‘yes, they put you back together again’ and I said ‘all of me?’ and she said yeah ‘all of you'."

This clip is originally from 5 live's Afternoon Edition on Thursday 9 February 2017.

PHOTO CREDIT: Serena Stevenson

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