Barrie, Ont. woman speaks out after violent attack on her front yard

Warning: Some readers may find the details disturbing.

A Barrie, Ont. woman says she was in front of her home Tuesday afternoon when she became the victim of an unprovoked, violent assault that left her bruised and bloody.

Gloria Picanco says she was on her front lawn gardening before her next shift as a school bus driver when she noticed someone in brightly-coloured clothing walking toward her.

She says what happened next transpired so quickly that she didn't have time to react.

"He looked at me, and then he charged at me. And then it was, his arms were swinging at me over and over and over. And he wouldn't stop. And I had no chance to defend myself. I had no chance," she says, becoming emotional.

"Why me?" she asks. "I was just a normal person. Basically, a nobody."

Picanco says when the man first approached, she thought from a distance it was a teen who perhaps had been locked out of his house.

"Your instinct is not, 'Oh, this person is coming to try and to beat me to a bloody pulp.' It's total nonsensical violence."

The 56-year-old woman says she was stunned by the sudden attack.

"My brain started working and said, 'You gotta do something. You gotta try.' And I was holding a gardening tool, ironically enough, and I thought, 'I'm going to swing it at him at hard as I can.'"

Picanco says she couldn't make solid contact because she says she was reeling from his unrelenting blows.

"So I just started screaming, 'Help! Help! Help!"

She says that's when she fell to the ground.

"And then it's a little bit fuzzy. I remember it going black and then feeling moisture, like a wetness. And then he started kicking me."

In complete disbelief over what was happening to her and covered in blood, Picanco says she managed to get back on her feet, still screaming, hoping someone would hear her cries.

"It was very terrifying to realize that I couldn't defend myself in that instance. That I took so many hits, and I was basically helpless 15 feet from my front door."

She says then the attack abruptly ended.

"He just stopped. And he looked at me. He hadn't spoken at this point. He looked at me, and he said, 'Now the police are going to come.' And then he ran away."

She says her attacker left in the same direction he had come.

She called 911, went into her house, locked the door and waited for the police.

"There was blood covering my face. I was literally covered in blood."

Picanco says officers found a man matching her description standing outside nearby.

Barrie police confirm they arrested a 27-year-old Barrie man and charged him with assault causing bodily harm.

They say the two were not known to each other.

Picanco says police told her he suffered a "mental illness episode." Police would not confirm those details. They also did not provide his name or tell her where he lived.

"Honestly, I don't know what that means for me going forward," Picanco says.

"How do I live here? It happened here. I like to be outside. I'm an outside person. I go for walks. I can't do those things now. I feel uncomfortable."

The 56-year-old school bus driver is recovering from a broken orbital bone and bruising to her head, face and torso.

None of the allegations has been tested in court.