‘I’ve got a much longer sentence than he has’
WOMAN SLASHED WITH KNIFE
BEARING a 10cm scar across her face, each day pretty Katie Charlton fears looking in the mirror.
Slashed in a horrific craft knife attack, Katie was cut across her cheek and right shoulder, while her ex-boyfriend Damien Armour suffered wounds to his face, arm and ear
Needing more than 30 stitches Katie says the incident has left her scarred mentally as well as physically and now says she hates what she sees. But the 22-year-old has bravely spoken out as she tries to cope with life after her ordeal.
“He slashed right through my cheek, you could see my teeth through the cut”, said Katie, of South Shields. “I was choking on my own blood, it was spurting out, I lost three-and-a-half pints.”
The pair where slashed by Stephen Thompson following a dispute at a party at his home in Boldon Colliery in January.
The 27-year-old was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday for five-and-half-years after he admitted charges of wounding, wounding with intent, possession of a bladed article and possession of cannabis.
But Katie says his sentence is not long enough as the scar on her face acts as a constant reminder of the night which has ruined her life.
Now ten-months on, she is trying to rebuild her life after pulling out of her studies at South Tyneside College as she hides behind closed doors.
“I don’t like going out and I have issues with men now, I just don’t trust them,” added Katie. “My life is ruined and I have to build back my confidence.”
Katie was worked on by five surgeons at the Royal Victoria Infirmary as they patched her back up. She was in intensive care, put in an induced coma and had a blood transfusion.
“I had the best surgeons they had,” she added. “When I got home it was in the living room mirror I first saw my face. I was frightened to look and hated what I saw. I still don’t like it. He cut through the nerves, artery and muscle and they hope I will regain the full feeling within 18 months, but that isn’t guaranteed. I had to learn to eat and KATIE CHARLTON
talk again. That side of my face just wouldn’t move.”
Katie suffered her horrific wounds as she put herself between knifeman Thompson and her then partner Damien.
The court heard a row had broken out between vulnerable Thompson and the couple in his home after he asked people at the birthday party to leave as he wanted to go to bed.
Damien, 26, ended up punching . Katie Charlton from South Shields who was slashed with a craft knife Thompson, leaving him with significant injuries and he picked up the craft knife that had been used to fit carpet in his flat.
Thompson slashed Damien a number of times, going beyond anything that could be classed as self-defence and leaving him with injuries. But Katie was caught up in the middle of it when tried to calm down the situation.
Katie, who ditched her studies in care, added: “I worry about when I have kids and having to tell them how I got the scar. I don’t want to face people because of it. I will have to build up my confidence so I can get a job and start doing things again. He got five-and-a-half-years. That’s not enough, he’ll be out in half that time... He gets out and goes back to normal but I have to carry this scar for life. I got a longer sentence that him.”