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Convicted domestic abuser tried to FaceTime girlfriend's father as he stabbed and burned her

Lewis Dunn burnt his partner with cigarettes, stabbed her and threatened to cut her toes. (Reach)
Lewis Dunn burnt his partner with cigarettes, stabbed her and threatened to cut her toes. (Reach)

A violent criminal has been jailed after he viciously tortured and humiliated his girlfriend following a drugs binge.

Lewis Dunn, 27, tried to FaceTime his 21-year-old partner’s father as he burnt her with cigarettes, stabbed her and threatened to cut her toes off.

The woman’s nightmare ordeal only ended when she ran through the streets in her pyjamas before hiding in a bin to escape.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Dunn attended the home where his girlfriend lived with her parents on 22 February this year and smashed the living room window – as well as those of a Mercedes A-Class and a white van – before fleeing on foot.

Dunn then said in a call to his partner’s mother: "I'll get some smackheads to come up and burn your house down, I'll stab you up.”

Peter Wilson, prosecuting, described how Dunn's girlfriend then got a taxi to see him, later admitting in a text to her mum that she wanted to visit him "in secret" because "if she didn't come to talk to him he would come back to the house and cause more damage”.

Dunn took his girlfriend to a flat on Hartington Road in Toxteth, Liverpool, where she stayed until the next day.

But, by 24 February, Dunn was refusing to let her leave the house after consuming a "cocktail of cocaine and alcohol" and subjected her to a horrific torture ordeal.

Dunn stubbed cigarettes out in her face, cut her with a knife, stabbed her in the shoulder with a screwdriver, repeatedly punched her, spat on her, hit her with a mobile phone and held a blade to her feet and threatened to cut her toes off.

Lewis Dunn was jailed for six years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court. (John Bradley/Creative Commons)
Lewis Dunn was jailed for six years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court. (John Bradley/Creative Commons)

At one point, Dunn attempted to FaceTime his girlfriend's father as he "wanted him to see" the injuries he was inflicting upon his daughter – although he missed the call.

At around 12.45pm, the victim was able to "make good her escape” after Dunn chased her down the street.

The woman was forced to climb into a bin in order to hide from her abuser as he "shouted for her” and later visited Aintree Hospital, having suffered 23 separate injuries.

These included having her jaw broken in two places, bruising to the heart and cigarette burns to the lips, the right temple and behind her left ear as well as a fracture to the bone in her left knuckle.

She later told police that there had been "blood all over the place" inside the address.

Dunn, of Clint Road, Edge Hill, went on the run but was located in Anfield and arrested on 16 March.

He has seven previous convictions for nine offences, including two for domestic incidents – namely an assault in 2014 and being jailed for 25 months in 2017 for battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage against an ex.

Dunn admitted false imprisonment, inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and three counts of criminal damage and was jailed for six years and eight months.

He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting his girlfriend indefinitely, and must pay a victim surcharge.

Dunn and his girlfriend remain in a relationship with each other.

Help and support for domestic abuse victims can be found via charities like Refuge and Women’s Aid.