I came face to face with my jailed abuser at the shops
Mum left brain damaged by her ex wants victims told where brutes live
A MUM left disabled after being strangled by her ex-boyfriend is calling for an official register of convicted domestic abusers.
Debora Colman survived a horror attack by brute Vincent Cunningham at their flat in December 2015.
The 17-stone bodybuilder throttled her three times during a 20-minute ordeal that has left her with a brain injury.
Debora only managed to escape his clutches by pressing her acrylic nails into his eyeballs forcing him to let her go.
He was sentenced to nine months for assaulting her and an additional two years for a separate nightclub attack on a man.
But horrified Debora was forced to move house after she came face to face in a shop in her hometown of Kilmarnock with Cunningham after he was released early from his sentence this May.
She is now calling for an official register of domestic abusers – similar to that used for convicted sex offenders – so women can keep tabs on dangerous ex-partners.
She said: “After he was sent to prison, I stupidly thought I could stay in Kilmarnock but everybody kept saying I wasn’t safe there.
“Then in May this year, when he got out of prison early after serving just over a year inside, I went round to the local shops and there he was.
“I had an interdict out against him with a power of arrest but even that wouldn’t have stopped him. I had to get out of there.
“There is no doubt in my mind that he will do it again to somebody else. He is pure evil and next time, he’ll kill someone.”
Launching a campaign for a public domestic abusers register, the mum of three said: “I’m hoping to get a register put in place for these men and women who have been convicted of domestic abuse.”
Debora believes the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, often called Clare’s Law, isn’t readily available for victims.
She said: “Accessing information about someone through Clare’s Law isn’t as easy as it may seem.
“You have to have a valid reason for asking and if you don’t, then the information won’t be given to you.
“Something bad essentially has to happen before you can access information.
“The way I look at it is, if somebody has been convicted for domestic violence then put them on a register.
“Make them adhere to certain terms so that an eye can be kept on them and who they may be dating and what situations they’re in.
“Make them attend certain things as part of their registration and if they don’t, then send them back to prison. Hopefully it’ll act as a deterrent.
“I’ve got 300 signatures so far which is great but I need other people to get behind me and help me get this through to Parliament.”
Debora said she still faces a daily battle to try to rebuild her life.
She added: “Despite being left disabled by him, I still count myself as lucky to have survived. I really should be dead.” last week. One witness, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said he discovered Cunningham, 50 – known as Billy Bandana – was living locally and he saw him outside his home.
He went on: “I didn’t know who he was at the time but the girl was running about and he would say hello to her.
“She had no clothes on and she’d be running about outside.”
Social worker Jamie Turnbull said a local family had “raised a number of concerns” about Cunningham, who shared a flat with another man.
He said: “Apparently they were practising devil worship in the garden.”