Last updated at 12:47, Wednesday, 10 October 2012

This young mum thought she was going to die as her drunken partner punched and kicked her in a 45-minute frenzy of violence.

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Emma Robinson, 20, suffered a tirade of abuse from her boyfriend of four years after he returned to their home following a seven-hour drinking binge.

Now as Steven Irving, 23, starts a two-and-a-half year jail sentence Emma has bravely spoken out of the night of terror which only ended when police arrived at the house she shared with Irving and their two young children in Wigton.

Emma told the News & Star how Irving dragged her out of bed punching and kicking her as she screamed for help down the phone to a friend.

Repeatedly he threatened to kill her. At one point after police arrived Irving used their eight-month-old baby as a shield holding it in one arm as he tried to punch and kick officers. Now Emma is urging the victims of domestic abuse not to be afraid to pursue cases through the courts.

She said: “I can see why people don’t report domestic violence. I was made to feel that I shouldn’t proceed with the case. Some people said they were disgusted that I had taken it to court because we had been together for four years and had two children. Every day the images of that night are there in my mind.”

Today her actions were praised by a senior police officer after Irving admitted assaulting Emma and a police officer called to the scene when he appeared at Carlisle Crown Court.

Detective Inspector Barry Carruthers said: “She did exactly the right thing in reporting this terrifying incident.

“Our target is to actually increase reports of domestic abuse and reduce repeat victims.

“We don’t want victims to cover it up. We want them to report incidents to us and together with our partners we want to take positive action first time and prevent it happening again.”

Emma who lives in Brindlefield was taken to hospital with bruising and swelling to her face and body after the attack on August 26. She told the News & Star after the court case how Irving had started drinking at 3pm on the day of the incident returning home at 10.30pm that night.

“I wouldn’t let him in the house and told him that because he was so drunk he could go elsewhere but he managed to get in,” she said.

“He shouted at me that it was his bed and he wasn’t going anywhere else. An argument broke out and that’s when the threats started. He said I would wake up in hospital and kept threatening to kill me.

“I was so frightened I rang a friend but the attack continued while they were on the phone. My friend could hear everything that was going on until Steven threw my phone so hard against the wall it left an imprint. He kept on punching me in the face and tried to strangle me, then he banged my head on the ground. He dragged me from the bed and grabbed me by the hair then booted me in the face. It was 45 minutes of hell. I thought I was going to die.

“My friend had called the police and when they arrived they could hear me screaming in the house.”

Emma said she wanted to thank the emergency services, Victim Support, Home Housing, health visitors and the Wigton Medical Group for their support after the attack.

In court it was said that when police arrived Irving tried to use the baby as a shield. He held the baby as he tried to kick and punch the officers.

The court heard that during the incident PC Chris Hallam was twice kneed in the head.

During police interview Irving said he could remember nothing of the incident as he had been drinking heavily all afternoon.

First published at 12:40, Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk