A young woman woke up in the hospital with horror injuries and had no idea what had happened - until a nurse said the devastating words: "Your boyfriend did it."
Emily Lewis, 24, was brutally attacked by her boyfriend of three years, Thomas Jones, who was high on cocaine and alcohol. Following the attack overnight between February 18 and February 19 last year, Emily suffered a head injury that measured 8cm long, 4cm wide - so deep it reached her skull.
The thug also fractured Emily’s cheekbone and left her with bruising all over her face and body. Having had 19 stitches and having suffered bruises on her face, Emily is now physically and emotionally scarred for life.
Jones, who has no previous convictions, has now been sent to prison following sentencing at Swansea Crown Court. The woman, from Neath, Wales, decided to speak out to help other women and encourage them to report any similar incidents so that attackers can be convicted.
She said that even though their relationship was not perfect, there were no obvious signs that he would ever physically harm her. Emily told Wales Online: "During our relationship he was never massively aggressive to me. In the year leading up to it, I thought he had a drinking problem because he would go out all the time and come home late and then have a go at me. There were traits of negative behaviour towards me but nothing like this. I wouldn't have described it as a toxic relationship."
On February 18, 2023, Emily said the pair had gone out with friends to Wind Street in Swansea. She said the evening started off fun with all of them singing and dancing together. However, Jones' behaviour flipped when they moved on to a second venue.
"I believe he got kicked out of that venue," Emily said. "I was outside with him trying to calm him down and it started from there. He was calling me names, calling me a c**t, telling me to f**k off, and telling me to go away while I was trying to defuse the situation. We went into another place and he got kicked out of there."
Although Emily has little memory of what happened next due to her injuries the court heard how a conversation between the pair was recorded outside their home via a smart doorbell. It revealed Jones becoming aggressive towards Emily because he couldn't find the house key and blamed it on her.
Emily, who has since suffered from flashbacks of the night, said: "I don't remember much from when we got home because of the head injury I later sustained. I remember something briefly being said about house keys because he couldn't find them and he was saying I had them when I remember he had them.
"Next I remember being inside the house and I remember him strangling me to the point where I couldn't breathe. I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness. I was trying to kick him off me but I'm small compared to him so I wasn't able to."
Emily's clearest memory from that night is the "excruciating" amount of pain she felt and how desperately she didn't want to feel it anymore. "While I was on the floor he was [punching] me repeatedly to the point where I was in so much pain I told him to kill me because I couldn't stand it any more," she said. "I was hurting everywhere. He had battered me all over."
Police turned up at the scene while Emily’s mum took her to Morriston Hospital in Swansea. The court heard how Jones continued to scream abuse at the car as they drove off.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Alycia Carpanini told Judge Paul Thomas KC how Jones had previously pleaded not guilty and only changed his plea to guilty to charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm and battery a matter of minutes before his trial was due to begin in July. She said aggravating features of the case include the fact Jones was high on drugs and alcohol at the time of the incident as well as the fact he attacked Emily in a domestic setting.
Addressing Jones, who sat in the dock wearing a blue suit and pale blue tie, Emily bravely read out her victim impact statement. She told the court how she now suffers from insomnia and feelings of terror whenever she looks in the mirror and is reminded of what Jones did to her.
"I am a survivor," she said. "I have a scar that reminds me of how strong I will become. You haven't taken away my will to live. You haven't broken my spirit. This scar is a constant reminder of what happened but it does not define my future. I can’t bear the thought of this happening to someone else."
Stuart Tupin, mitigating, told Judge Thomas how Jones was of clean character with no previous convictions and is employed. He added: "He is certainly getting to the point of facing what he did that night. I'm not saying he is there yet but he is now recognising the impact his actions had."
Judge Thomas sentenced Jones to 18 months in prison for his actions towards Emily. He was also handed a two-month term to run concurrently for battery following his actions towards Emily's mother. He will serve half this sentence in prison before being released on licence. A restraining order will also prevent him from making any contact with Emily for the next three years.
Addressing the defendant, Judge Thomas said: "This offence is simply too serious to justify anything other than immediate custody. A message has to go out to people, particularly men, that prison will be the inevitable outcome."