Determined not to let him escape justice for his sickening crime, the quick-thinking mum-of-two decided to leave evidence that would help cage him.
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After locking herself in her bedroom, Emmie used the blood from her injuries to scrawl her assailant’s name on the wall.
She spelt out his name, John, before crazed Jonathan Hunt, 34, broke down the door.
Thankfully she managed to escape, and Hunt was arrested the following day.
He was convicted of actual bodily harm (ABH), but Emmie, 29, tells The Sun she was appalled by his two year and 11 month sentence.
She is speaking out after the government revealed plans to scrap some shorter sentences to tackle the issue of Britain’s overcrowded prisons, which could see thousands of abusers walk free from court.
Masters student Emmie, from Sheffield, says: “His sentence was appalling for what he did to me. He could’ve killed me.
“This policy is going to endanger a lot of women while letting the perpetrators feel like there isn’t any comeback. If this is what they want to introduce they should start taking domestic violence more seriously and start giving longer terms.
“Women shouldn’t need to die before it’s taken seriously. Women will probably not report abuse if perps end up walking free. It’s not worth the trauma of a trial.
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“Johnny’s brutal attack left me scarred for life and I’ll need corrective surgery on my nose in the future.
“But I’m a survivor and finally rid of him.”
Emmie matched with Hunt on Tinder in January 2020 and they went on their first date that Valentine’s Day.
They clicked instantly, and Emmie discovered Hunt used to be a sniper in the Army.
When Covid hit that March, Hunt moved in with her and her two young children.
But when Emmie began studying an English literature degree, he complained she wasn’t paying him enough attention.
She says: “Lockdown took its toll and soon we were arguing all the time.”
Then, in January 2021, Hunt became secretive with his phone.
Suspicious, Emmie managed to access his Facebook account, where she found dozens of messages from other women.
Emmie says: “When I confronted him he insisted he was only flirting and blamed it on being lonely, because of all the studying I was doing.
“I tried to forgive him, but the trust was broken.”
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They split in October 2021 and Hunt moved out, but they vowed to stay friends.
The following year in July 2022, Emmie’s mum looked after her kids while she threw her friend a 50th birthday party at her house.
She invited Hunt, who she says was “charming and on his best behaviour”.
But after everyone left and she began clearing up, she claims he squared up to her in the kitchen.
“He demanded to know how much I’d had to drink,” Emmie explains.
“His eyes glazed over when I told him I’d only had a few.”
Suddenly Hunt punched Emmie hard in the face and continued to rain down blows on her face.
When he hit her in the nose, she heard a squelching sound and a metallic taste filled her nostrils.
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“I was drenched in blood,” she recalls. “Terrified he’d kill me, I ducked under his arm and raced upstairs into my bedroom, locking the door behind me.”
As she heard Hunt thunder up the stairs, she had a horrifying thought – that he’d kill her, and get away with it.
Acting on instinct, Emmie then covered her index finger in blood from her face and scrawled his name on the wall.
When Hunt burst into the room she managed to escape down the stairs and out onto the street, where he caught up with her and shoved her face first into the pavement.
She blacked out, and when she came around, Hunt had vanished.
Emmie says: “I managed to drag myself home and phone a friend, who took me back to hers.
“I was in too much pain to call the police and just went to bed.”
The following morning Emmie went home with her friend and found Hunt asleep in her bed.
The police were called and he was arrested.
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Later that morning Emmie attended Chesterfield Royal Hospital where she was treated for severe bruising and a dislocated nose.
The consultant warned she could’ve lost her left eye.
Back at home she tried to scrub the walls of her blood, but the stain wouldn’t budge.
In February 2023, Jonathan Hunt admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
In August last year, he was jailed for two years and 11 months at Derby Crown Court.
The judge detailed his previous convictions for 28 offences, including convictions that arose from ‘domestic context’.
Emmie says: “Now there’s still blood on my wall, so I’ve swapped rooms. But it’s a reminder that I didn’t let that animal get the last word.”
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How you can get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.