In May, Scott Leonard Charles Furlong and Zoe Leonara Furlong were jailed for an attack on Donna Volante, with a police medical examiner describing her injuries as some of the worst they had ever seen.
Mr Furlong received two years and nine months in prison, with his sister being jailed for 21 months for her part in the attack, which Miss Volante described as feeling like she was ‘being hit by a brick’.
Miss Volante, who was attacked in her own home by two people who she thought were her friends, has spoken out about the effect the assault has had on her and how she still struggles following the ordeal.
She suffers from memory loss and believes she is lucky to be alive. She said a friend who was also attacked during the incident saved her life.
She said: ‘My memory has been impacted massively as a result of it. I am having an EEG [a medical examination to test for brain injuries] to see if there is any long-lasting damage. Sometimes I will have a conversation and I can’t even remember it.
‘I suffered a blood clot in my eye, and I was in hospital, the Women’s Refuge and Orchard House as I suffer from mental health problems.
‘My friend who was there almost left but he stayed and he was very, very brave, he saved my life. If it wasn’t for him I would have been killed.
‘I am very, very lucky to still be here to tell the story.’
She added that returning home, to the scene of the attack, had been ‘distressing’.
‘I have been discharged and am back to the house where it happened, which is very distressing.
‘It has been a horrible ordeal, not just for me but for my family and my loved ones to see me like that,’ she said.
During the court case, Attorney General Robert MacRae described how Mr Furlong held the victim down while Miss Furlong punched her three times.
The victim suffered bruising to her lip, swelling to her eye, and bleeding to her eyelid and had difficulty opening her jaw.
Miss Volante is hoping her story will inspire others to speak out and get help.
She added: ‘I struggle to go out on my own. I am hoping that by speaking out it will help other victims of abuse.
‘Hopefully, it will help others to speak out more. I have wrote about my experiences and have wrote journals, and wrote a book I hoped to get published.
‘I just hope something positive can come out of this.
‘It still impacts me big time, because these people were meant to be my friends and loved ones and they did this.’
