Young Mother Gouged in the Eyes, Punched Repeatedly in the Face and Has Ear Almost Bitten Off by Ex-Boyfriend

A young mother has told how she feared for her life during a brutal attack by her ex boyfriend in which he gouged her eyes, repeatedly punched her in the face and almost bit her ear off.

Emma Hunt, 22, had just dropped her three-year-old daughter off at a nursery in Nottingham when Martell Campbell, 24, launched a savage on her in front of horrified parents and children.

The 24-year-old leapt out of bushes and grabbed Miss Hunt in a bear hug in the middle of the road.

He then punched her repeatedly in the face and dragged her on all fours before throwing her down between two parked cars.

He then gouged at her eyes and strangled her before trying to bite through her ear.

Nottingham Crown Court sentenced Campbell to six and a half years in jail for the November 6 assault, after he admitted wounding.

Ms Hunt, who was treated at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, said: ‘My ear was hanging off, I had a broken nose, my knees were grazed and my face was bruised.

‘I was in hospital all day and they had to sew the top part of my ear back on.

‘I’m glad he’s locked up and can leave me alone. I think he should have been jailed for longer though but didn’t expect he would be.

‘I was worried I was going to die, I can’t really remember much of the attack but my only thoughts were that I wasn’t going to see my daughter again.’

Ms Hunt revealed that Campbell had threatened to kill her the night before, but thought he was merely letting off steam.

She said: ‘He said he was going to come to the school and kill me. I was really shaken up but I didn’t actually think he would attack me. I thought he was sounding off.

‘I was walking back from the school and someone said to me that a big black guy was hiding in the bushes.

‘Then I saw him and that is when he pounced on me. He’s a lot bigger and stronger than me, I was just trying to defend myself.’

She first started dating Campbell six years ago but said he started getting ‘weird’ after the pair had a daughter together.

They broke up after four years but Miss Hunt allowed Campbell to continue seeing his child who is now three years old.

But she said Campbell suddenly changed in July last year and started stalking her and rummaging through her bins.

She got a non-molestation order against him in October after Campbell hurled a brick through her window.

The full-time mother said: ‘It was okay at first when we broke up two years ago, he still had our daughter at weekends.

‘But when it got to July of last year he turned a bit weird and started harassing me and stalking me.

‘He smashed my windows and was going through my bins and he used to ask people where I was.

‘We had an argument on the phone the night before he attacked me because I wouldn’t get back with him.’

The court heard that Miss Hunt had warned staff at the school about him that morning, following his threats.

Campbell was serving a suspended prison sentence for assaulting another ex-partner and had been issued a non-molestation order to stay away from Ms Hunt three weeks before the attack.

Campbell, of Nottingham, was caught thanks to quick-thinking parents outside the school–including one who followed him and snapped his picture on her mobile phone.

Prosecutor Mark Achurch said that Ms Hunt suffered ‘the worst pain she ever experienced’ during the attack.

Errol Ballentyne, defending, said Campbell accepted he had lost his temper.

He added: ‘He hadn’t set out for matters to end where they did end. He had hoped to be able to talk to the complainant.’

The sentence was also welcomed by Val Lunn, chief executive officer of Women’s Aid Integrated Services in Nottingham.

She said: ‘The severity of the sentence conveys a strong message that domestic violence will not be tolerated and perpetrators should expect to be held to account.

‘Women . . . have the right to live their lives free from the stress of violence.’