Get out before it is too late

I CAN see. And by the time you are reading this I think it’s probably safe to assume you can too.

Tina Nash, on the other hand, has been robbed of one of the most precious gifts in life – her sight.

"I miss the things which people take for granted," she said in a troubling Radio 2 interview last week "such as seeing the sky and the sea".

Ms Nash was left completely blind after a "premeditated, sustained and vicious attack". Her former partner, 33-year-old Shane Jenkin, has admitted the assault on the mother-of-two at Truro Crown Court. He also admitted breaking her jaw and nose.

Jenkin was originally charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm. He will be sentenced next month.

Truro Crown Court was horrified to learn Jenkin had gouged out the eyes of the young mother whose two sons were present in the house at the time of the attack.

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

"Tina’s life will never be the same and her lifelong disability will be a constant reminder of the attack. Tina has displayed incredible strength, however, and has shown great desire to be able to care for her two children – despite not being able to see them as they grow up."

In an interview broadcast on the Jeremy Vine Show, the 31-year-old mother said: "I truly feel that, when he was strangling me, he was trying to murder me."

She said she was glad he had "at least taken responsibility for changing my life forever".

The assault had left her feeling "buried alive, claustrophobic and not in control".

"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," she revealed.

"Some days I just don’t want to get up but I’m determined to provide a future for my children and this is my motivation."

Ms Nash says her former lover had "taken everything" from her.

"He didn’t try and help me. If I had seen someone in that much pain, looking like that, then the first thing I’d do is get help and he didn’t and I can’t forgive him for that. He said I was like his best mate so I don’t understand why he would hurt someone he was supposed to care about. I have done so much for him and this is how he repaid me."

Asked why she did not walk away from the relationship, she said: "I thought I could change him and help him. I thought he was getting better."

Police say they had a "classic domestic violence relationship".

"He went too far this time," Nash told listeners to the Jeremy Vine Show, adding "I’d rather not be here like this. This isn’t me." She has warned other victims of domestic violence to get out "before it is too late – it’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse".

"Domestic violence is serious and pernicious," according to Keir Starmer QC, director of public prosecutions. "It ruins lives, breaks up families and has a lasting impact. It is criminal. And it has been with us for a very long time. Yet it is only in the last 10 years that it has been taken seriously as a criminal justice issue. Before that the vast majority of cases were brushed under the carpet with the refrain ‘it’s just a domestic’."

CHILLING Home Office statistics demonstrate women are still more at risk of violent crime at home than anywhere else. According to the British Crime Survey:

? One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime – many of these on a number of occasions.

? One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute.

? On average, two women a week are killed by a current or former male partner.

In Women’s Aid’s view domestic violence is "physical, sexual, psychological or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and that forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour".

Clare Phillipson, of the domestic violence charity, Wearside Women In Need, speaking as a guest on the Jeremy Vine Show, claimed: "Domestic violence is rooted in a culture about hating women, it’s about women as secondary status, less than men and [people] you can do anything to...

"We need to start examining properly the nature of male violence against women in this country. What underpins this kind of behaviour?"

The estimated total cost of domestic violence to society in monetary terms is £23 billion per annum. This figure includes an estimated £3.1bn as the cost to the state and £1.3bn as the cost to employers and human suffering costed at £17bn (according to a 2004 study).

Presenter Jeremy Vine suggested the "absolutely shocking" attack on Ms Nash could become a "seminal moment in domestic violence in this country".

"Society," Phillipson considered, "almost grooms women to blame themselves." She said there was a public myth about domestic violence – "we should never blame the victim who is on the receiving end of this kind of violence," she insisted. "Blame the perpetrator."

No sentence will ever recompense Ms Nash for the loss of her sight.

We are reminded of David Rathband, the policeman shot in the face by crazed gunman Raoul Moat – and who subsequently lost his eyesight. Rathband, who struggled to come to terms with his loss, took his own life in a tragic act earlier this year.

So as I drove home in my car listening to the Jeremy Vine Show I was never ever so grateful to see newborn lambs gambolling in roadside fields. Daffodils trumpeted their golden spring fanfare. I could see – and what a gift. One that you and I probably too often take for granted.