A young mum lost count of the number of times she believed she was going to die at the hands of her controlling ex-partner.
Heather Greenwood, 22, from Douglas, has lifted the lid on her catalogue of torment and physical and emotional abuse during a three-year relationship with Ryan Devanay.
She has now taken the brave decision to speak out about her treatment by Devanay in a bid to get other young women to recognise the signs of an abusive relationship.
She said: “I’m rebuilding my life.
“It has taken me a long time and while the physical scars have healed, the mental scars will never go away.”
In November 2017, Devanay, 28, formerly of Provost Road, pled guilty to five charges of physically assaulting Heather and a man on various occasions in 2015 and 2016.
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In one of the attacks against her, Heather was so severely beaten she required surgery to reconstruct her nose.
However, Devanay avoided prison and was ordered instead to carry out 300 hours community service following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Heather revealed her toxic relationship with Devanay began when she was only 17 and he was 27.
She said: “He basically groomed me from the start. At the time, I thought I was so grown up and worldly wise but I realise now that I was very young and naive.
“I was totally taken in by him. He had a job, a car and money and I now realise he groomed me and completely controlled everything I did.
“I was at college studying painting and decorating when he first contacted me via social media.
“We went on two dates and after that I couldn’t get rid of him.”
Heather said Devanay first attacked her after he had accused her of cheating on him.
“He got very angry and he began to strangle me. He later said it wouldn’t happen again,” she said.
“Then on another occasion he accused me of trying to look at his phone.
“He was going mental, I kept telling him I hadn’t but he was insisting I had.
“He was strangling me and I could feel my head swelling up.
“He kept punching the wall and strangling me and I blacked out.
“I came round and he was still attacking me.”
And on another occasion when Devanay tried to strangle her, Heather eventually came round on her bathroom floor.
She said: “I reported some of his attacks on me but there were so many I didn’t report them all.
“There were so many times I thought he was going to kill me. I tried to leave him but he would threaten me if I did.
“I was really scared but part of me was also so broken down by him.
“He even managed to damage my relationship with my mum, which we are still trying to repair.
“Once when I tried to leave him he posted nude pics and videos of me online. I still get a lot of bullying because of this.
“He broke down my confidence so much I believed that, if I didn’t have him, I would have no one because no one else would want me.
“He controlled every aspect of my life and I want to warn other young girls what to look out for.”
