The stepdad who stabbed a 12-year-old girl and hammered a nail up her nose and into her brain used various sharp tools in the attack, the Daily News learned Wednesday.
Joshua Burnside, 28, made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Bronx Criminal Court via video from his hospital bedside. He had previously made a suicide attempt, delaying his arraignment, at which he was ultimately ordered held without bail by Judge Harold Bahr.
It was revealed at the arraignment, that during the horrific assault on the young girl, Burnside allegedly used a variety of objects, including a knife, fork, spoon, plate, tongs and a crochet needle, according to court documents.
The violence began during a heated argument between Burnside and his ex-wife on Oct. 22 around 11:15 p.m. inside the family’s sixth-floor apartment on E. 173rd St. near West Farms Road in Crotona Park East, just across the street from Starlight Park, officials said.
The ex-wife picked up a knife to defend herself but Burnside grabbed it out of her hands and stabbed her in the stomach and slashed her face with it, cops said. The woman fled out of the apartment. Burnside then turned on his terrified stepdaughter, who had just witnessed the attack on her mom, stabbing her multiple times in the body, face and head, according to the complaint.
After stabbing the girl repeatedly, Burnside then hammered a long screw up her nose and into her brain, officials said.
Responding police officers took Burnside into custody without incident and charged him with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child. He was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
The girl was transported to Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where she survived risky emergency surgery to remove the screw from her brain. She remains in critical but stable condition.
“It’s pretty much a miracle she made it through,” a law enforcement source said of the girl’s surgery.
Burnside’s ex-wife was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where she was treated for minor injuries. Her two younger children, who were not harmed, were taken to the same hospital for evaluation.
Burnside’s next court date is set for Dec. 10.
