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Coral Hay, from Manchester, England, is 22 years old. Her ex boyfriend, Scott Hughes is 28. They met in August 2015 and before long they began a relationship.
But their relationship was anything but happy. He assaulted her mercilessly out of jealousy. Scott wouldn’t believe that Coral was being faithful to him. He regularly checked her cellphone and removed male friends from her Facebook page. She even had to resign from her job.
During one beating incident Scott threatened to throw her into a swamp. Scott said he would get a friend with a bakkie to take her to the swamp, the same one where five gruesome child murders were committed by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady in about 1965. They’re known as the Moors Murders.
Coral believed Scott meant every word of his threat. According to public prosecutor Duncan Wilcock, Coral stayed in the relationship out of fear.
Once Scott bit Coral and stabbed her with a kitchen knife. In December last year he kept her tied to a chair for more than an hour because he was convinced she was cheating on him.
In May he hit her in the stomach and ribs, leaving her with severe bruising. Between his assaults he reviled her and accused her of unfaithfulness.
Once Scott jumped on her head, tried to strangle her and punched her. Coral went to another room and began to pack her clothes. Suddenly she felt a pain in her side. She realized she was bleeding profusely. Then she saw the kitchen knife and realized he’d stabbed her.
Coral spent six days in hospital, where doctors noted an older ribcage injury.
The police arrested Scott and found out that this wasn’t the first time he’d assaulted his partner. Scott had apparently admitted to Coral that he’d been freed conditionally on a charge of family violence. She saw this as his “honesty”. During sentencing Judge Timothy Mort said Scott had done Coral great emotional harm and that the assaults must have been terrifying. He sentenced Scott to four years in jail. During Scott’s sentencing Coral read an open letter to him, which caused him to burst into tears.
Domestic violence victim's powerful open letter to boyfriend who beat her https://t.co/HFbvLM7wLf — Metro (@MetroUK) November 8, 2016
“You always said you would know when you have grown up because you would notice you chose the grown-up decision. Something inside me has changed now.
“I’m not even going to try and hide it but I want you to know you have completely destroyed and broken me into pieces.
“Ever since we started going out I’ve been unable to do things on a daily basis. The things that now leave me in fear and panic. I don’t eat the same, sleep the same or walk down the street the same – and this is all down to you and your actions.
“I want to thank you because I did learn a lot from you and you did make me believe in myself. I will never be the same girl again but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
“I’m a strong person both inside and out, despite how you broke me down. I have good days and bad days and a feeling of a constant dull ache.
“I get flash backs of that day on repeat mode in my head and I can’t erase that. The panic in your eyes when you realised what happened. Waiting for the ambulance to arrive felt like ages.
“Scott, you don’t know what you did to someone you were supposed to love. The scars I have are emotional, mental and physical and will be with me for possibly my life.
“I wish I could take them away but I can’t. I hope any future relationship you’re in doesn’t end up in the same way, or even worse. I would never have hurt you in the way you hurt me – you could have killed me.”
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, metro.co.uk, briefreport.co.uk
