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- Trial was halted when judge fell ill, but Sacha Williams Rowe felt too traumatised to go over the case again
- Sent to prison for a week leaving her four children behind
A mother of four was sent to prison because she felt too scared to give evidence against her ex-boyfriend who nearly killed her.
Sacha Williams-Rowe had already endured two days testifying against Lloyd Lothian, the father of her children, but his trial for attempted murder collapsed when the judge fell ill.
When a retrial was ordered, Miss Williams-Rowe, 31, faced a second court case but she felt too traumatised to go over the case again, according to the Sunday Mirror.
Instead she asked authorities to use medical evidence, and her police statements as well as footage of her in hospital after Lloyd, 35, stabbed her in the stomach with a kitchen knife.
When she failed to appear Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire Hon Judge The Lord Parmoor issued an arrest warrant.
Miss Williams- Rowe was then held in contempt and sent to prison for a week after she failed to turn up for a second time.
But she was eventually ready to testify, Lothian was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful wounding, rendering her stressful court experience useless.
Two weeks ago Lothian was sentenced to 15 months – he could have been sentenced to a maximum of five years.
He will be freed in six weeks due to time he has already served and a reduction for his guilty plea.
The stress has left Miss Williams-Rowe with a skin condition and she has now changed her name and moved to a new village in the Home Counties.
She told the newspaper she is deeply upset about how she was treated when she felt too traumatised to testify.
He will be freed in six weeks due to time he has already served and a reduction for his guilty plea.
She did not press charges because she hoped things would change and had two more children with him.
In 2010 when she went out to collect a takeaway Lothian became agitated and aggressive because he did not know where she had been and punched her.
He then pulled her through the house and into the kitchen where he pulled a knife out of the knife block and she thought he was going to cut her face.
She said:’ I ran to the back door but it was locked. I turned and he was stood over me, and I sort of shrugged, because I knew there was nothing I could do. Then he stuck the knife in me.’
Miss Williams-Rowe collapsed and after life-saving surgery, awoke from a coma two days later and told the police what had happened.
Lothian’s barrister insisted she had stabbed herself at the first trial in May 2011.
After it collapsed and was rescheduled for September Miss Williams-Rowe was told she would need to be cross-examined again and she became distressed.
She informed her police liaison officer that she didn’t have the strength to ensure the ordeal again and went directly to a doctor who gave her medication. But when she returned to home she was arrested.
The judge told she had wasted £8,000 of public funds and she said she would attend the following day, but when she didn’t, he found her in contempt and remanded her in custody for a week.
The third trial began on January 10, and she agreed to give evidence but at court she was told Lothian had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.
Carolyn Oakley of the CPS said to the newspaper: ‘This was a difficult domestic violence case, and taking into account all the circumstances, the prosecution team in consultation with the victim accepted the plea to unlawful wounding. We take all reports of domestic violence extremely seriously.’
Miss Williams-Rowe said: ‘Why would any woman go to the authorities and ask for help when they have to go through that?’
