A young woman has vowed to stand by her husband even after he stabbed her 46 times, leaving her lucky to be alive.
21-year-old Shannon Barnard was brutally attacked by her husband Michael, 25, at their home in Kent in January this year, when he stabbed her multiple times causing both lungs to collapse.
With a total of 46 stab wounds, Shannon suffered 14 wounds to her chest and breasts, four penetrating her internal organs and 10 to her abdomen.
The 21-year-old spent 17 days in hospital following the attack and has been left with multiple scars which may even require her to have skin grafts in the future.
According to the Metro, Shannon described the horrific situation to police while she was recovering in hospital, where she explained she felt the first blow of the attack to her stomach.
In the interview, Shannon said:
I screamed and then somehow I was in the front room. After he stabbed me I dropped to the floor. His dad was still on the phone and I was screaming “He’s got a knife”.
I was on my back on the floor and Mike was literally on top of me and was just stabbing me. He was on his knees and leant over me.
I remember him trying to move my arms away and I was just screaming. He didn’t say anything apart from when I said “Stop. I’ve got to call my dad”.
He said “No, you’ve got to die”. That was the only thing he said the whole time. He said it just once when I was on the floor. I was just thinking I was going to die, that I was dead.
Michael’s parents and uncle arrived at the home to find Shannon on the floor, her eyes rolling.
She continued:
I was opening and closing my eyes. They were screaming at him. His mum said “What have you done?” and I said “He has killed me. I’m dying”.
The attack happened just two weeks after Shannon discovered her husband had cheated on her after getting drunk and high on nitrous oxide.
Shannon was told she was extremely fortunate to survive the horrendous attack, but even after everything her husband put her through, she’s still willing to stay committed to him.
Michael was convicted for attempted murder, but at the hearing at Maidstone Crown Court Shannon admitted she has forgiven her husband and is planning to start a family with him when he’s released from prison.
When asked how she imagines the couple’s future, Shannon responded:
Just to be together and have the life that we both want with each other and have a family.
Shannon has also been visiting Michael in prison ‘on every occasion possible’.
After assessing Michael, a psychiatrist concluded that he would have been suffering from a short-lived adjustment disorder at the time of the attack, which has been known to cause extreme anxiety, paranoia, emotional thoughts, and aggressive outbursts.
However, the jury was told the disorder would not have affected Michael’s ability to plan to kill his wife. He is now on medication to prevent another similar medical disorder happening.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.