‘We didn’t know Rizzo was hitting Neomi. She didn’t say a word to us’

“WE cry every day and brea k dow n at some point.”

John Smith is remembering his daughter Neomi. It’s just over a year since the 23-year-old was brutally murdered by her violent boyfriend in Brechin and the agony goes on.

In his first i nterview since Neomi’s tragic death, John said he hopes telling her story will encourage other victims to seek help.

He said: “I want to be heard. I want to help domestic abuse victims – to get the message out there. Support is available.”

Keith Rizzo, who Neomi had been dating for just six weeks, stabbed her 32 times, with two knives. He also repeatedly hit and strangled the care worker.

Rizzo, a 23-year-old farmhand, blamed mystery men for raiding the Tayside flat – but a jury dismissed his far-fetched story and delivered a guilty verdict. In April he was jailed for 22 years.

John said Neomi, a forthright, confident 23-year-old who knew her own mind, wouldn’t tolerate her friends’ boyfriends stepping out of line but somehow put up with weeks of the most horrific abuse at the hands of Rizzo without saying a word to loved ones.

Throughout their entire sixweek relationship, John never met Rizzo.

He said: “We knew she had a boyfriend but didn’t know anything about him.

“Her grandmother knew about the relationship. Neomi was on the phone to her grandmother five times a day.

“Her grandmother said Neomi had never been as happy, so I didn’t need to ask questions about how it was all going.

“Nobody within the family knew Rizzo had hurt her before. Neomi didn’t tell anyone up in Aberdeen about it. If she had have done, I would have taken her away.”

John contrasted how Neomi would put up with no nonsense towards her pals but tolerated abuse from Rizzo.

He said: “If anyone did anything wrong to her friends, Neomi would stick up for them. She basically just said how it was: You either like it or you don’t.

“She was upfront. If any of her friends’ boyfriends hurt her, she was the first to say something about it. But she kept this to herself and we just can’t understand why.”

Two weeks before Neomi’s tragic death, her work colleagues pulled her aside for a chat.

During Rizzo’s murder trial, the court heard Neomi met pal Kirsty McLeish on May 10 and she noticed bruising on Neomi’s neck.

Neomi said Rizzo had grabbed her by the throat until she passed out.

John said: “We didn’t know about that incident until after she died. We didn’t know he was hitting her.”

Kirsty told the court another incident took place a week later when Rizzo threw his phone at Neomi at her flat.

Kirsty noticed Neomi’s mirrored wardrobe had been smashed and found Neomi as she was just regaining consciousness, with a big bump on her head.

John said: “Even that incident, with the mirrored glass in the bedroom, we didn’t know he had