Domestic abuse victim tells how partner nearly killed her in the street

Amanda Preston says she wants to warn other women about her attacker, fearing that he will do the same to someone else when he is released from jail.

Gary Mark Connor pled guilty to assault to severe injury and danger of life at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court last month.

He was sentenced to 32 months in prison and made subject to a non-harassment order.

Amanda (38) says they were together for around two years, and although he had recently started to become aggressive after drinking too much, there had been no indication that he might turn violent.

But when the moment came without any warning on the evening of February 8, she thought her kids would be left without a mother.

“I just want to warn other people because I didn’t expect that to happen,” she said. “If he met someone else, you never know, he could do it again.

“But that night was just the worst, just completely out of the blue, he attacked me for no reason whatsoever and just started stamping on me. He nearly killed me.

The appalling attack happened at the west end of Kirkcaldy High Street at 11.30pm.

Amanda said: “We’d been to a funeral in Stirling, and we’d come back off the train and went for a drink before we went home.

“When we were leaving there, everything was totally fine. There was no argument or anything. One minute we’re holding hands and walking down the road and the next minute he threw me onto the ground stamped all over me.

“He just completely changed out of the blue.

“It was like evil just took over him. He was stamping all over me.”

When Gary stopped and began to leave, Amanda’s thought she would be able to escape to safety, but he wasn’t finished yet.

“He left at one point. I thought he was leaving me alone. But he ran back as fast as he could, lifted his leg and kicked me in the back of the head like a football, and continued to stamp all over me. It was just horrible.

“I thought I was going to die. When he kicked the back of my head, it just started spinning and I felt like I was losing consciousness. I think I did at one point.

“I tried to get up and run, but I couldn’t. I was going left instead of forwards because of the head injury.”

Amanda says police later viewed CCTV footage and told her what they had seen.

“He wouldn’t stop stamping on my head. The police later said that every time he was stamping on my head it was bouncing off the kerb. They said that they were really surprised that I had even survived what he had done to me.”

Eventually Amanda saw a passer-by and tried to call for help, but Gary told them not to get involved.

“There was somebody coming down the street, and I shouted ‘help’.

“Just him being there made Gary stop, because he said ‘don’t listen to her, she’s just a drama queen’.

“That’s when I managed to get up and try and run. I didn’t know if he was chasing me or not, but I heard footsteps behind me. As I was running I kept running into the shops and going sideways because of the head injury. It felt like the longest run of my life.

“I managed to jump in a taxi, and shouted for him to phone the police, and as I did, the police showed up, pulled me into the car and told me ‘you’re safe now’.

“They took me straight to hospital.”

However, it was only after she was checked over that the full extent of Amanda’s injuries became apparent.

She said: “I was in there until the next day, he’d broken my ribs. They weren’t sure if my jaw was broken. I had to go back twice and they said it was fractured. He’d caused a trauma head injury, a concussion, and I had footprints all over my body.”

Amanda says she later received a letter from Gary.

“He wrote me a letter apologising, saying that he didn’t have a clue what happened and that he doesn’t remember a single thing, but he was going to plead guilty. He did plead guilty, which I’m glad of, but it doesn’t make up for what he’s done.”

She said that there had been no indication that he would turn violent, but had recently begun to change after drinking too much.

Amanda said: “When you trust someone, you don’t think they would do that to you ever.

“A few months ago when he had a drink he started to become quite aggressive, but never ever violent.

“I never ever thought he would become violent. I’d spoken to him before and told him that if he couldn’t control his behaviour when he was drinking then he would need to stop drinking. He said he would stop and speak to someone but he never ever did.

“It worries me, because his behaviour’s totally changed. When he does have a drink he doesn’t really know his limit.

“My kids could have been left without a mum that night and that’s what I hate about him the most; he didn’t even care.

“I couldn’t imagine my kids growing up without their mum.”

The road to recovery is still ongoing for Amanda, but her injuries initially meant that her children had to help her.

She said: “My kids had to look after me for three of four weeks afterwards. It should be me looking after them, but I couldn’t walk or anything because of my ribs.

“My head’s still kind of spinny, but everything else is getting fine. They said that it should heal within three months. My head injury should get better.”

But Amanda fears about what he could do once he is released.

“He could have killed me. One more kick in the head and I probably would have been dead. He could do this to someone else. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”