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A Brampton media personality who was violently dragged from his parked vehicle last week and attacked with a machete and ax required 150 stitches, lost a toe to amputation and will need months of rehabilitation physics to recover, a close friend tells CP24.
On August 4, Joti Singh Mann was getting into a jeep parked in his driveway when a man with an ax approached him.
Video obtained from the scene shows the ax man swinging the blade into the driver’s side window of the vehicle after Mann closed the door, knocking the glass out of the frame.
Two more men join in, one armed with a machete.
The violence only ends when a woman identified as Mann’s mother leaves the house to render aid.
Mann is a real estate agent and media personality in Brampton.
A friend, Brampton councilor Gurpreet Singh Dhillon, says he suffered the loss of a big toe and the use of a hand in the attack, and also received 150 stitches.
“Doctors say he will recover, but it will take a few months of rehabilitation to regain use (of the hand).”
Mann hosts a podcast, and her mother told CP24 she received a threat while taping a recent episode.
Dhillon said Mann’s assault is the third violent incident involving a Punjabi media personality in Brampton in the past 12 months.
In one case, a shot was fired at the home of a media anchor. In another, the suspects confronted a media anchor with a gun as he left his studio.
“Whether you agree or disagree with them, there shouldn’t be any violence against them, so hopefully there will be more leads in these investigations as well,” Dhillon said.
At 2:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Peel Regional Police Supt. Sean Gormley will discuss the incident with reporters.
Police describe the case as an attempted homicide investigation.
CP24 will broadcast their comments live and online.