Winnipeg hotel worker in violent attack left with pieces of ears bitten off

A Winnipeg hotel worker says she's lucky to be alive after a violent attack last weekend during her overnight shift left her bloodied and with parts of her ears bitten off.

Laverne Bunn was on duty at the McLaren Hotel on Main Street when a man and a woman came in at 2:30 a.m. CT Sunday.

Bunn said she recognized the man as a former hotel resident who had been evicted for drinking. She believes he came in looking for a fight.

"We got into a verbal argument," Bunn said. "I came out with a bat in my hand and I kind of poked them. I didn't hit them or anything — just to get out of the door."

Bunn said she fell backwards as she was closing the door on them, and then the woman jumped her and began beating her up.

"She was punching me, she was kicking me, she was biting my ears, pulling my hair back," Bunn said in an interview.

"I just kept on moving so she couldn't hold me down, and one time, I flipped her off. I tried going towards the front door, but he was standing there with the bat," she said.

​Bunn said the man hit her on the top of the head with the bat three or four times, but the worst of the assault came from the woman.

"My left ear, she just totally chomped on it," said Bunn. "It was when she was just biting and spitting it out on the ground … I just kind of freaked out and I saw all this blood coming out."

Bunn said the woman also bit her face four times, and bit her hand and finger.

Needed stitches

A resident came downstairs, interrupted the attack and called 911, she said, adding that the couple ran off.

Bunn said she needed stitches to her eyelid and is taking antibiotics to prevent contracting any possible diseases from the attacker.

In her eight years at the McLaren Hotel, she said, nothing like this has happened to her.

She usually locks the door at 12:30 a.m., but left it unlocked later because of an event in nearby Old Market Square, in case someone came in to use the ATM.

Bunn said her employers have been supportive, but she isn't sure if she wants to return to the job.

"I think they should be able to implement more security [and] have another person, because sometimes the person who is working is not a guy and not six feet tall or as strong," she said.

The hotel manager could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.