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A woman who was left permanently blind in one eye by her violent fiance has criticised the Crown Prosecution Service, U.K, after her case was initially dropped despite “overwhelming evidence” of the cause of her injuries.
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Akorede Odutayo sustained life-changing injuries after being punched repeatedly in the face by her partner when she got icing on his clothes after presenting him with a birthday cake.
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Police from the London borough that worked on the case say it is just one in a string of domestic abuse offences they had to appeal against to get through the courts after the CPS initially declined to press charges.
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Ibrahim Akanbi was found guilty of grievous bodily harm last month at Woolwich crown court in London and was sentenced to three years in prison.
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He would have escaped a conviction had police not appealed against a decision by the CPS last March to take no further action in the case. Now Odutayo, 23, who has a two-year-old son with Akanbi, has decided to speak out because she is worried other victims are not getting the justice they deserve.
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She said: “I feel I was completely failed by the CPS. If the police hadn’t appealed he could have got away with it despite the blatant evidence.” Odutayo said she had endured a “painful waiting game” to see her former partner brought to justice after the attack on 11 January 2015, Akanbi’s birthday.
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The couple were packing for a holiday Odutayo had booked as a surprise when a row erupted after she put icing pieces from his birthday cake in his cupboard as a keepsake.
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“He started chucking things at me and headbutted me, cutting his head on my tooth. He then started punching me repeatedly until my face went numb. My eye was full of blood.”
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Doctors told Odutayo they had been unable to save the sight in her eye. She said: “I’ve lost my eye and then I find out they weren’t even going to charge him. He was out there going on holiday and enjoying his life while I was going through hell.” Crdt: TheGuardian
