A woman has spoken out after her vicious ex-boyfriend was jailed for a string of brutal attacks – including ripping the hair from her head using an electric drill.
Suzie Kemp, 38, from Leeds, was left with a bald patch on the side of her head following the horrific battering at the hands of her then partner Aaron Kearsley, 28.
Describing the attack she said he picked up a drill he had gathered from a utility cupboard and held it close to the back of her neck while pressing the button.
Suzie’s hair got caught around the rotating masonry drill bit and a large chunk was ripped from her head.
The mother-of-three was so manipulated by Kearsley she initially blamed herself for the assault – which also saw him beat her with a chair and burn her with hot cooking oil.
But the brave victim fled when he fell asleep and went to the police to help jail him for four years and two months at Leeds Crown Court.
Suzie Kemp, 38, (pictured) opened up about the horrific abuse she suffered while in relationship with manipulative boyfriend Aaron Kearsley
A picture showing the damage to Suzie’s hair after the assault. The mother-of-three said she suffered through agonising pain
Pictured: Kearsley and Suzie during their relationship. Suzie said the early stages of their relationship was ‘just shy of perfect’
Aaron Kearsley was also sentenced for violent attacks on another partner, who was pregnant at the time.
Suzie has opened up about her horrific ordeal to encourage other women to speak out and take action against abusers.
She revealed how violent Kearsley slowly took control of her before the assaults, by convincing her to stop studying, reading and wearing fashionable clothes or jewellery.
Suzie said: ‘Somebody was going to get it that night and unfortunately it was me.’
Suzie (pictured) testified during Kearsley’s trial, after which he was convicted to four years in jail
A picture of Suzie’s scalp a year after the attack took place in February 2019. She said Kearsley pressed an electric drill to the back of her neck and tried pressing the button. That’s how her hair got caught around the rotating masonry drill bit and a large chunk was ripped from her head
‘I had the attitude “bring it on, you can do what you want.”
‘I know that’s not normal behaviour but I didn’t feel scared. I was numb.
‘When he was jailed I had tears of happiness in my eyes but it was temporary. I think I was more relieved.
‘Yes, I’m scared of him and it’s hard for me to admit that. But now I can now go in my back garden and not think there is someone watching me.’
Suzie said she felt ‘numb’ at the time of the attack and she only realised how ‘lost’ she was after the last attack, in January of this year
Suzie showing off her tattoo, which reads ‘Kearsley is a d***,’ she said that while she was still scared of him, she was not scared of going in her back garden anymore
‘I am wanting to encourage people to take action against abusers by going on the Women’s Aid site and signing the petitions available to enforce better laws against domestic abuse.
‘Now, when you ask me “am I a victim?” I can say yes I am.
‘Because I take responsibility for my own actions and own choices I find it difficult to point the finger of blame, but I lost a hell of a lot of myself to the extent that I didn’t realise I was lost.’
The pair, who had known each other for several years, started a relationship in December 2017, and Suzie said initially it was ‘just shy of perfect’.’
Suzie revealed that Kearsley threw a clothe horse at her when he launched his vicious attack in January 2019
Kearsley and Suzie posing for a picture before the assault. Kearsley pleaded guilty to three offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, controlling or coercive behaviour and two offences of possession of a class B drug
Suzie showing her scalp after the attack. In twenty minutes, the mother-of-three managed to leave Kearsley’s place, run to hers and call friends and police
But in February 2018 Kearsley became paranoid after finding tasteful but raunchy photos of her on her phone, which were more than ten years old, she claims.
He then started to control Suzie, who said she made allowances due to his mental health problems, she claims.
Suzie said he controlled her, and with hindsight, she realises he convinced her to stop studying psychology at university, reading, and wearing designer clothes and jewellery.
She said he even managed to convince her to smash her old phone to prove her commitment to him.
‘I don’t want anything from him, even sorry,’ said Suzie,but added that she could forgive him, in order to help him change
Suzie claims he also called her a ‘s**g and prostitute.’ Self-employed Suzie, who sells jewellery, says the worst attack – for which he was jailed – happened on January 26th this year.
It came just days after they got back together following a five-week break.
Kearsley drunkenly lashed out while at his flat after finding a male friend’s number in her phone and hit over the head three times with a chair.
She claims that despite being visibly in pain, he picked up a drill he had gathered from a utility cupboard and held it close to the back of her neck while pressing the button.
Suzie said: ‘He has come towards me and picked up a clothes horse and hit me over the head. It was almost like I was his worst enemy.
‘When I was in the kitchen he picked up a stool and didn’t just hit me but stamped it over my head.
‘We had been cooking earlier in the frying pan and he picked it up so I used my arms to cover my face.
‘The oil dripped over me and I turned around and said to him “bring it on.”
‘I then went to the living room and he followed me but had managed to grab hold of a drill from a utility room. I was sat down and he held it towards me.
Kearsley assault other women, including a girlfriend that was pregnant . He was branded ‘a danger to women’ by Judge Mushtag Khokhar
‘I held my head down and he put the drill on the back of my neck. It rotated a few seconds, it was enough time to give me time to think and it got caught up in my hair.
‘I had loads of my hair missing, I ran my hand over my head and could feel that it was really smooth.
‘Then he started getting upset and he held me but I motionless and still. I was there but not there.
‘He then held it up to me as if he was going to do it again but I said to him “go for it, make sure you do the other side so it’s equal”.
‘I don’t know why I would say that but I didn’t want to let him know that he had hurt me.
‘He then fireman’s lifted me and we went to bed. He then fell asleep and I planned my escape.
Suzie said she’s willing to forgive Kearsley if he accepts what he has done and learns from it while in jail – but will never take him back
‘I laid there thinking I needed to get out of there.’
Brave Suzie knew she had to escape and crept out of bed, and set the microwave to around 20 minutes – to help force herself to be out the house before it went off.
‘I was in absolute agony, as soon as I got home I messaged my friend and rang the police,’ she said.
‘I filled up a bowl of water before putting it in the microwave and thought I’ve got that time to get home and get help until it pings.’
Kearsley was jailed for four years and two months at Leeds Crown Court in March this year, for the attack on Suzie and others on another former partner in May 2017.
Kearsley pleaded guilty to three offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, controlling or coercive behaviour and two offences of possession of a class B drug.
Another picture of Suzie’s scalp. While some of her hair is growing back, some is still missing and she said her hairdresser has warned her hair follicles might be so damaged, they won’t return
The court heard he put his hands around the other woman’s throat and choked her so hard she thought she was going to die, while she was pregnant.
He then threw her to the ground, causing her to bang her head and kicked her repeatedly for around a minute, it was said.
Kearsley became violent when she told him she was leaving him over his drinking and drug use.
He hit her with a toothbrush charger which cut through her cheek to her lip, causing permanent scarring, the court heard. He was branded ‘a danger to women’ by Judge Mushtag Khokhar.
Suzie is now urging other women to speak out to take action against abusers.
While some of her hair is growing back, some is still missing and she said her hairdresser has warned her hair follicles might be so damaged, they won’t return.
Suzie said she’s willing to forgive Kearsley if he accepts what he has done and learns from it while in jail – but will never take him back.
‘He had a future with me but now he hasn’t,’ she said. ‘I don’t want anything from him, even sorry.
‘I can forgive him but that’s no way endorsing what he has done. That’s just so he can accept it himself and change.’