The family of a woman injured in a brutal machete attack thanked the public yesterday for their response to an appeal for assistance to help her move from the house where the horrific assault happened.

Kennae Wade, the sister of Kenneita Wade, who suffered severe injuries, said a GoFundMe page had raised almost $22,000 in just three days.

She added: “The messages that people add on the GoFundMe page when they donate are all positive. They keep saying their prayers are with us. I appreciate that — we do need that right now.”

Kennae’s 33-year-old sister was attacked by a group of men, at least one who was armed with a machete, in the yard of her home, in Cedar Hill, Warwick, last Friday night.

Kenneita lost several fingers in the horrific attack and also suffered a severe head injury.

Kennae said yesterday her sister was “doing OK”, but was still in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where she was taken off the critical list last weekend. But she added the trauma of the vicious assault, as she tried flee her attackers, meant that she could not face a return to her old home.

Kennae said: “I believe she will be out soon. I don’t know exactly when. It’s going to take her a while for things to get back to normal again. Well, nothing is going to be back to normal.”

Kennae said her sister, a secretary and mother of two, was used to an independent life.

She added: “She does everything. She’s always cooking and doing her own work. That’s going to be difficult.”

Kennae said her sister’s children, a ten-year-old girl and six-year-old boy, were not yet ready to see their mother in hospital.

She added: “I did have them send her a video, and they can talk to her over the phone.”

A police investigation into the attack continues.

Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, said on Thursday that the police suspected the attack was linked to the knife murder of 22-year-old Joshua Rowse and other violent incidents this month.

Mr Rowse was killed at the Rubis petrol station on South Shore, Warwick, on June 14.

Commissioner of Police Stephen Corbishley said he believed an incident where a man was shot and wounded in St George’s on June 13 was also connected.

But Kennae insisted the incidents had “nothing to do with each other”.

She said: “They’re totally different.”

She also pleaded with the public not to pass on rumours about the attack while her sister recovered.

Ms Wade said: “I’m hearing a lot of stories and I am not happy about it. People do not know what happened.”

• The donation site, set up on Tuesday and called “Medical Expenses for Kenneita Wade”, had raised $21,903 from 237 people by yesterday afternoon

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