Ukrainian model was 'scalped' with her hair shorn by Dubai party 'abusers' before she was found horrifically injured, her mother claims
OnlyFans model Maria Kovalchuk, now 21, suffered a broken spine and limbs as well as head wounds and a scarred face.
She was discovered in a coma on a roadside in March after going missing.
She was 'tortured' by Russians in Dubai, not 'sheikhs' at a so-called 'Porta Potty' party, as had been reported, she has claimed.
But exactly how she was left close to death remains a mystery.
Now new details have emerged of the horrific 'abuse' suffered by Maria who is now learning to walk on crutches at a hideaway in Norway being cared for by her mother Anna, 40.
Medical images revealed today show the appalling giant knife scar extending from her forehead to the top of her skull.
In an interview on Ukrainian TV show Hovoryt vsia kraina, her mother said she saw how her daughter had been scalped when she found her in a Dubai hospital after her appalling ordeal.
'It was a shock,' said Anna.
'If you saw the stitches on the head, how the scalp [had to be] sewn back on….'
The anguished mother demonstrated to TV host Oleksii Sukhanov how she believes a knife was used to savagely wound Maria, who has no memory of the alleged attack which almost killed her.
'My impression is that it was just done like this, with a knife, and right across the face,' she said.
Sukhanov urged her not to highlight how a knife cut her daughter's face and scalp, saying she 'has already suffered enough'.
The mother said: 'It looked as if it was done with a knife from the centre of the head all the way down to the eye, and the hair was cut off.'
She believes the hair was removed with a knife as part of the abuse she suffered in Dubai after attending a party over several days at a five star hotel.
'Why the hair was cut is unclear, because it wasn't done at the hospital, the nurses told me that and confirmed it,' said Anna.
'The hair had been lifted upwards and cut off.
'They wouldn't have been able to lift it like that in hospital, because there was a massive wound on the head.'
Anna said that after her ordeal Maria had 'three operations on one leg, three on the other, two on her spine, and one on her shoulder blade' after the alleged brutal beatings.
'One leg has an open fracture with ten centimetres [4 inches] of bone missing.
'She currently has an implant from the hip down.
'That leg is now paralysed, with no sensation.'
Two wealthy Russians accused of involvement in the alleged abuse have gone public to deny any part in her horrific injuries.
They said they were at a three day party with Maria but had nothing to do with harming her.
Dubai police also examined a theory that Maria had left the party and five hours later sought to commit suicide by humping eight floors from a nearby construction site.
But a neurosurgeon who examined the model concluded her wounds were not consistent with such a fall.
Rather, the wounds suggested Maria being beaten, and hit by a car, or thrown from one.
'She had tearing under both armpits and a broken collarbone—like she'd been dragged,' said Anna.
'Then I believe they beat her and threw her from the car.'
The prosecutor in Dubai closed the suicide case, she said.
But this means no-one has been brought to justice for Maria's appalling wounds.
'My theory is that [her so far unidentified captors] operate a trafficking scheme,' said Anna.
At the party, they 'took her [passport], phone, and said she belonged to them and would do what they say.
'They wanted to break her psychologically.'
It is still unclear where she was for five hours after leaving the party and being found out cold on a construction site.
One intriguing aspect is that Maria's full medical bills for numerous operations were fully covered by Dubai police.
Anna alleged they were seeking to cover up something.
'I believe so,' she said.
They agreed to pay as Maria's mutilation was first reported in the media.
'By that time, information was already spreading fast online and in the media about Maria. I think they wanted to contain it—to make their investigation easier, perhaps.'
Anna has also claimed that she has been threatened online for speaking out about the case.
After the daughter and mother spoke out, Anna said: 'I got a disappearing message on my phone.
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