A domestic abuse survivor who was hit over the head with a bottle by her former partner says her life has been ruined by what had happened to her.

In a victim impact statement read to Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, October 17, the woman said the abuse at the hands of 44-year-old David Hawthorn had broken her mentally and left her with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

She said she suffered panic attacks and nightmares and had moved out of her Lowestoft flat because she was scared to live there any more.

“He has ruined my life,” she said.

Hawthorn, of North Denes Caravan Park, Lowestoft, admitted assaulting the woman causing her actual bodily harm and an offence of common assault which took place in March this year.

He was given a 21-month prison sentence suspended for 24 months, a 90-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement and a 40 day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also banned from contacting the victim or members of her family for five years.

David Baird, prosecuting, said Hawthorn and the victim had been friends before they started a relationship between late 2020 and early 2021.

She had left her family home to move into Hawthorn’s caravan and, in the summer of 2021, they had gone to live in Bulgaria for six months with Hawthorn’s mother.

The couple returned to the UK and, in the early part of March this year, Hawthorn had punched her in the left side of her ribs causing her to go to the ground, said Mr Baird.

Later the same day the woman had been driving when Hawthorn who was a passenger in the car had punched her again in the same place during an argument.

“It caused her considerable pain and she felt lucky she didn’t crash,” said Mr Baird

Several days later during an argument in her flat Hawthorn pushed the woman from behind causing her to fall to the floor.

He had then hit her on the back of the head with a beer bottle.

The bottle had smashed and the attack had left her with a bump on the back of her head.

Oliver Haswell for Hawthorn said his client had been in custody for seven months.