British man admits gouging out girlfriend's eyes

Apr 13, 2012 |

London

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A British man pleaded guilty on Friday to blinding his girlfriend by gouging out her eyes, police said, in a vicious attack that she said left her feeling "buried alive".

Shane Jenkin, 33, from Hayle in Cornwall, southwest England, admitted grievous bodily harm with intent following the attack last year on his partner, Tina Nash.

He will be sentenced on May 11, court officials said.

Nash, now 32, lost the sight in both her eyes in what Detective Inspector Chris Strickland said was a "premeditated, sustained and vicious attack on a defenceless woman".

After the assault at her home in Hayle in April 2011, in which the mother-of-two also suffered a broken jaw and nose, Jenkin kept Nash imprisoned for the next 12 hours, stopping her from seeking help.

"He was blaming me, saying, 'It's all your fault, I'm going to get years for that.' He didn't try and help me... I can't forgive him for that," Nash told the BBC in an interview.

She said Jenkin had previously hurt her but she thought she could change him.

"It could have been anything else but the fact I'm not going to see my kids' faces again, I think that's a bit harsh. He went too far this time," she said.

A spokeswoman for Truro Crown Court in Cornwall said Jenkin had originally been charged with attemped murder but this was changed.

Nash told police at the time that she and Jenkin had been drinking and then had an argument, before she went to bed. It was there that he attacked her, with her sons, then aged 13 and three, elsewhere in the house.

"Our view is that Jenkin deliberately strangled Tina into a state of unconsciousness in order that he could inflict these terrible injuries," Detective Inspector Strickland said.

He added: "Her injuries were so shocking that friends who saw her soon after the incident found it difficult to stay in the room."

In a statement issued by Devon and Cornwall Police, Nash welcomed Jenkin's guilty plea, saying: "He has taken everything from me and robbed me of one of the most precious things in life -- my sight."

She added: "Sometimes I feel as though I've been buried alive, claustrophobic and not in control of my life.

"I actually look forward to going to sleep because in my dreams I have sight. It's when I wake up that the truth hits home."

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