UPDATE: Shane Jenkin Imprisoned Indefinitely For Blinding Girlfriend In Savage Attack (PICTURES)

A woman whose partner gouged out her eyes has told how she has turned her life around, as the man responsible is due to be sentenced.

Shane Jenkin, 33, launched his "premeditated, sustained and vicious attack" on Tina Nash last year, breaking her jaw and nose and leaving the mother-of-two blind.

He will be sentenced at Truro Crown Court later after admitting GBH with intent last month. After he pleaded guilty, Nash said she was glad he had "at least taken responsibility for changing my life forever".

However Nash revealed she was coming to terms with her injuries in an interview with the BBC.

She told Jon Kay: "I feel like I'm coming to terms with it. I was in quite a dark place back then. I don't feel as low as I did."

The 31-year-old said she had been "sleeping and thinking" for nine months as she adjusted to her new life.

She added: "I feel stronger, a lot stronger. I've got a way to go yet but I'm on the right track

"I don't feel proud of myself, I'm doing it for my kids. I want them to be proud of me."

She also spoke of the outpouring of support she had received, including countless messages and letters, which her family read to her.

Nash said: "I don't think I'm brave, I'm surviving, I'm getting on with it. You only get one life so I'm not going to let him ruin it.

"To be honest I feel nothing towards him. I don't feel anger because that's a feeling and I don't want to have feelings for him. So no, I'm not going to waste my time."

When Kay asked her if she had "Kind of deleted him?", Nash replied: "Yep. He never existed."

Attempts to save the sight in one of her eyes failed and she was left completely blind.

She said: "I truly feel that, when he was strangling me, he was trying to murder me.

"He has taken everything from me and robbed me of one of the most precious things in life - my sight.

"I miss the things which people take for granted the most such as seeing the sky and the sea."

She added: "Some days I just don't want to get up, but I'm determined to provide a future for my children and this is my motivation."

Powerfully-built Jenkin, of Sea Lane, Hayle, Cornwall, was originally charged with attempted murder but court staff confirmed he had admitted GBH at the court last month.

Her sons were aged 13 and three at the time of the attack.

In a previous interview with the BBC, Ms Nash said she thought she could change Jenkin but warned other victims of domestic violence to get out "before it is too late - it's not going to get better, it's going to get worse".

Nash, who bravely faced Jenkin in court at a previous hearing, added that she had been left feeling "buried alive, claustrophobic and not in control of my life" by the assault.

She said she hoped Jenkin was not "buzzing" over being the last person she ever saw and wondered if he was "bragging about it".

After the attack, Jenkin blamed her, she said.

"He didn't try and help me.

"If I had seen someone in that much pain, looking like that, then the first thing I'd do is get help and he didn't and I can't forgive him for that.

"He said I was like his best mate so I don't understand why he would hurt someone he was supposed to care about."

The victim said there were previous occasions when she helped Jenkin get out of trouble for hurting her.

"I have done so much for him and this is how he repaid me."

Explaining why she could not walk away from the relationship, she said: "I thought I could change him and help him.

"I thought he was getting better."

Detective Inspector Chris Strickland, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said Jenkin carried out a "premeditated, sustained and vicious attack on a defenceless woman".

"Our view is that Jenkin deliberately strangled Tina into a state of unconsciousness in order that he could inflict these terrible injuries," he said.

"Tina's life will never be the same and her lifelong disability will be a constant reminder of the attack.

"Her injuries were so shocking that friends who saw her soon after the incident found it difficult to stay in the room.

"Tina has displayed incredible strength however and has shown great desire to be able to care for her two children despite not being able to see them as they grow up."

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