handcuff
Representational image of a handcuffed man. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images

A man was sentenced to nine years in prison Tuesday for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend and gouging her eyes for liking a Facebook post in October 2018.

A U.K. court heard that 35-year-old Danny Bridges, a body-builder, throttled and punched his unnamed girlfriend before gouging out her eyes in October. However, the incident came to light a few days later when the victim called her friend, pleading her to inform police that Bridges had imprisoned her as he did not want her friends or family to see her bruises. In a police statement, the victim said her boyfriend assaulted her because she liked a male friend’s Facebook post.

“With every punch I remember seeing white flashes in my eyes - he managed to stick his fingers in my eyes by this point. He somehow managed to peel the eyelids back and it turned inside out. It hurt so much I thought I was going to be sick, I thought my eye was going to pop out. He then told me he was going to kick the baby out of me,” she said in the statement.

However, during the trial, the victim said she was injured after falling down stairs while having rough sex with Bridges. Police said the victim visited the accused regularly in jail and the latter pressurized her to change the statement. Bridges was found guilty of assault in May. The court also heard that Bridges had a history of assault. He assaulted his mother in 2002 and had also knocked her sister unconscious. He was also accused of beating another ex-girlfriend in 2013.

During sentencing Tuesday, Judge Rupert Lowe said, “You stuck your finger in her eyes turning her eye-lids inside out. She thought her eyes were going to pop out altogether. She was so frightened she thought she was going to die.”

“You are just another violent abuser of women. You have not shown any sympathy or empathy to those closest to you. You are selfish, angry and violent. I have no hesitation in finding that you pose a significant risk of harm to future partners. It is impossible to tell if you are lying or living in an alternative reality,” the judge added.