‘I WOKE UP IN HOSPITAL WITH HORRIFIC INJURIES AND MEMORY LOSS AND WAS TOLD MY BOYFRIEND HAD DONE IT’
didn’t know what was going on.
“I was in a hospital gown and my phone was dead. I was pumped full of painkillers like morphine but I could still feel the pain. I woke up in absolute agony.”
As Emily asked the nurse to charge her phone, she said she was horrified to catch a glimpse of her injuries on the phone camera.
She was even more horrified to learn how she sustained them.
She said: “I saw the state I was in. My head was shaved, I had stitches in my head, and my face was swollen up like a balloon.
“I threw my phone because I was in so much shock and I didn’t know who did it. I asked the nurse and she told me it was my boyfriend.
“I was shocked and traumatised when I found out he did this.
“My life completely changed in one night. The day before we were fine and now I haven’t spoken to him since.”
Nobody knows exactly how Jones caused the deep wound on Emily’s forehead.
However, it was said by the prosecution that it was most likely to have been caused by an Alexa screen found with blood splatters on it.
Emily has a scar and no feeling in the area, as well as issues with balance and memory.
She said: “I have an appointment with brain injury aftercare because I repeat myself constantly, my balance is off, and I have started having migraines.
“My balance is particularly bad; I can’t walk in a straight line.”
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Alycia Carpanini told Judge Paul Thomas KC that Jones had previously pleaded not guilty and only changed his plea to guilty to charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm and battery minutes before his trial was due to begin in July.
She said aggravating features of the case include the fact he 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 she 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 that 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.”
Mr Tupin said the defendant had used cocaine a number of times in the past but had never reacted like this.
He said Valium was found in Jones’ system that night, but the defendant maintains he did not take it and believes it must have been added in the bag of drugs he used alongside alcohol.
Although Mr Tupin said the use of drugs was never condoned, he offered it as a possible explanation. He said Jones had booked an appointment with the Welsh Centre for Action on Dependency and Addiction.
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 of 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.”