A 36 year old man, Daniel Moore beat up his ex-girlfriend till she was unconscious in front of his children then left her for dead on his couch for two days.
Bank worker Colleen Higgins was left in a coma with horrendous injuries including a broken cheek and a skull fractured from one side to the other.
Moore didn't call an ambulance while she was in a coma and told Colleen she'd fallen down the stairs when she eventually came round.
Colleen only realised how badly she was hurt when she took a selfie on her phone and frantically called her mum who rushed her to the emergency room.
Colleen said:"I didn't even explain what had happened on the phone to my mum, I said I'd fallen over and she turned up expecting to see me with a broken ankle.
"But when she arrived she said she knew straight away that he had done it so she didn't even wait for an ambulance and took me to hospital herself."
When she got to hospital, Colleen didn't know her age or what year it was and doctors realised she'd suffered a traumatic head injury.
Her brain was swollen and she spent five nights in hospital and where she had an operation to fit a metal plate into her cheek.
The matter was reported to the Police who arrested Moore. Moore pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to six-years and nine months in prison at Stafford Crown Court on February, 24, 2015.
Now Colleen, from Hednesford, Staffs, is speaking out about domestic violence in a bid to warn others.
Colleen said: "I had no idea what had happened when I woke up on the sofa in pain.
"I almost couldn't believe that he had done it to me my injuries were so horrific and have caused such devastating effects."
Colleen met Daniel when he was a customer at her bank.
She said: "He treated me like a princess.
"He was the model boyfriend, he'd bring me a picnic at work for lunch and I would come home to dinner made and a bath run for me.
"I knew that he had been convicted of assaulting an ex-partner but I thought that our relationship was different."
After 18 months together they moved in to a house but Moore's behaviour changed and he became controlling and aggressive.
When Colleen found out he had been cheating on her, it was the final straw and she left.
But two weeks later, Moore saw her on the way to work and asked if they could talk things over.
After meeting for coffee, Colleen arranged to go round to the house on Friday, April 25 last year to visit Moore's two children.
Colleen said:
"I'd always got on really well with his kids and we were playing monopoly and having an ordinary Friday evening.
"The next thing I remember is waking up in the most horrific pain I have ever experienced.
"I couldn't walk but I knew something was wrong so I grabbed my phone and took a picture to see what my face looked like.
"All I could see was blood everywhere and I knew I needed to get out of the house."
Now, just over a year on, Colleen is getting her life back on track.
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She said:
"My skull was cracked from the back of my head all the way round to my nose and the swelling on my eye was so bad the doctors thought I might lose my sight."Some people endure the same injuries that I had and never walk again."I had a great rehab team helping me over nine months and it was just sheer grit and determination that he wasn't going to ruin my life that got me through."I truly believe that he would have left me to die. "But I survived and so I want to do everything I can to warn other women who might be in a similar position."If me speaking out saves one person from experiencing what I have gone through then it's worth it."
Source: UK Mirror
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