A Haitian-born woman who bit a stranger on the forehead during a brutal assault has had her sentence reduced by Quebec’s Court of Appeal, in part because a prison term could trigger her deportation from Canada.
Macdala Monfiston, who was 37 at the time, attacked the woman outside a bar in Laval, Quebec, on December 27, 2022. The assault left the victim with a permanent facial scar.
Court records state that the bite caused a wound several centimetres long. The injury required repeated medical treatment and resulted in a prominent, lasting scar.
Monfiston pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2025. A Court of Quebec judge initially sentenced her to four years behind bars.
But in a ruling issued Monday, Quebec Court of Appeal judges Geneviève Marcotte, Suzanne Gagné and Christine Baudouin significantly reduced the punishment.
The appeal court also criticized the original decision, saying it failed to account for the broader consequences Monfiston could face as a result of the sentence.
“The judge does not address the consequences the appellant faces … relating to possible deportation and the loss of her right of appeal, nor does she examine the extent of the repercussions that a four-year prison sentence would have on her dependent children,” the Quebec Court of Appeal said.
The judges added that the sentence would affect Monfiston more severely “than other offenders who might have committed similar acts.”
Macdala Monfiston, then 37, attacked a woman outside a bar in Laval
Shocking footage shows Monfiston standing over the victim during the attack
The anonymous victim suffered a bite to her forehead that left a permanent scar
Her sentence has now been changed to two years less a day of conditional imprisonment in the community. She will not serve time in prison: the first 18 months will be under house arrest, followed by roughly six months subject to a nighttime curfew.
According to the National Post, Canadian legal precedents require judges to weigh the “collateral immigration consequences” of a criminal sentence when deciding what punishment is appropriate.
Monfiston is a Canadian permanent resident whose parents are of Haitian origin. She moved to Montreal from the United States when she was two years old but has never become a Canadian citizen.
Video of the incident showed her attacking the victim outside the bar on a snowy night while bystanders attempted to stop the violence.
The would-be rescuers were restrained by Monfiston’s then-partner, Majd Mounsef. During the assault, she repeatedly kicked and punched the woman before straddling her and biting her face.
The victim, who has asked to remain anonymous because she fears her attacker, told Le Journal de Montréal that she believed she would die during the beating.
Monfiston is a Canadian permanent resident who arrived in Montreal from the US at age two and has never obtained citizenship
“I begged her to let me go. I told her I wanted to see my children again,” the woman said.
She said people often assume an animal bit her, then react with shock when they learn the injury was inflicted by another person.
‘The day she was incarcerated, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders,’ said the victim.
‘I was going to work and thinking, “Wow, I don’t have to worry about her anymore.”‘
She said she lives in fear that she might cross paths with Monfiston again.
Court records show that Monfiston dropped out of school after completing her second year of secondary school and was convicted of theft in 2012 and obstructing police in 2014.
She was also convicted of a drug possession charge in 2024.
Judges described Monfiston as having been raised in a ‘dysfunctional, deprived and violent’ family environment.
The appeal court’s decision also considered the fact that Monfiston is a single mother of five children, which also factored into the decision.
Mounsef had also been charged in connection with the attack, but he died earlier that year, before sentencing.
