Woman, 25, shares shocking images of her injuries after boyfriend smashed her head against wall

A woman has revealed how her ‘psychopath’ ex-partner she met on Tinder viciously assaulted her in her parents’ home after guilt-tripping her into staying there.

Zhanet Georgieva, 25, said Joshua James went on a terrifying drunken rage at her house in Fivehead, outside Taunton, Somerset, in February.

She was left with shocking injuries, including a fractured nose, facial lacerations, black eyes and other injuries following his attack.

James was sentenced on Friday at Taunton Crown Court after being charged in relation to the assault and the damage caused to Ms Georgieva’s house.

He pleaded guilty to charges of causing actual bodily harm as well as criminal damage against the property.

He was given a 10-month sentence which will run from the end of the current sentence he is serving.

He was earlier jailed for six years and eight months in April 2021 after an attack in Trowbridge town centre in September 2020.

Ms Georgieva said she initially met James on dating app Tinder and never suspected what he was capable of because ‘when you like someone, you go a bit blind’.

She said: ‘We met on Tinder and started speaking, he was amazing.

‘We met up, went on a few dates, and he painted himself to be this amazing boyfriend that had just got himself into a little bit of trouble.

‘I’m a well-educated woman and I don’t normally go for those kinds of boys but he just sold me a dream and sounded so amazing.

‘At that time though he was on a tag because, he told me, he’d just got into a fight with someone on a night out.

‘I didn’t think too much of it – when you like someone you go a bit blind.

‘We got talking more and more and then he had an argument with his mum, who had kicked him out, and I had to go pick him up and he asked if he could stay at my parents’ house with me.

‘Basically he manipulated me into saying he could stay, saying ‘if you don’t I’ve got other girls I can stay with’.

‘Saying it now I think, what a mug I was to take him in, but I did. He was abusive in the relationship but I didn’t realise it, it was emotional abuse.

‘I didn’t realise until I started talking to someone about it.’

Ms Georgieva and James had a couple – who were his friends – over for dinner at her parents’ house while they were on holiday on February 21.

She said James got so drunk he lashed out at her verbally and physically despite her desperate attempts to calm him down.

She said: ‘They came over and Josh just got so drunk, to the point he would lash out at me whenever I said anything.

‘We got into an argument because I told him to calm down, that he was being like this and I was asking what was wrong.

‘I went to hug him because I hadn’t seen him like that before, it was embarrassing for me – we had these people over and he’s treating me like s**t in front of them.

‘Instead of him apologising or anything he grabbed my head and hit it against the wall.

‘I was in total shock and just ran outside to my car, freaking out and asking why he would do something like this.’

Ms Georgieva said she calmed down enough to return to the house and found James and his friend having had an argument which had left the latter with a bloody hand.

They are said to have warned Ms Georgieva to call the police before taking her out of the house.

She said: ‘He was still going mental and the other couple told me to call the police, because he’d done this before.

‘I didn’t know what they meant and said he was just very drunk and it would be okay.

‘They tried to get me away from there, they got me in the car because they said he was going crazy.

‘We got down the end of the road and I said I couldn’t leave him on his own, I was really worried about him, so I went back and he had locked me out of the house, my own house. I was knocking, trying to calm him down by calling to him.

‘I looked through the post slot and was trying to get him to calm down, but he just started throwing things at the door – knives, glasses, plates, everything.

‘I got really scared but was still trying to help him.’ James let her into the wreckage but assaulted her.

Ms Georgieva described being left in ‘total shock’ after the attack while he continued to destroy the house before she escaped.

She said: ‘He finally let me in and there was glass, food, everything all over the place. He dragged me when I got in, put me on the sofa and started beating me up.

‘He fractured my nose, and my whole face was swollen, I had two black eyes, he hit the side of my head, my ribs, everything. I’d never been hit before so I was in total shock.

‘I tried to grab my work phone to call someone but he smashed it and my other phone and he kept on punching me the whole time.

‘As he looked away and went towards the TV, I don’t know what he was going to do, but I managed to get away and just sprinted out of the house.

‘I tried to get to the next door neighbour’s house, but next thing I remember is I was on the ground and Josh was on top of me saying ”I love you, please come back, I’m so sorry”.

‘In that moment I could only think ”this is not the person I thought he was”. I thought he was either going to kill me in the street or kill me inside so I went into fight or flight mode.

‘I just listened to exactly what he said, he grabbed me and pulled me back into the house.’

Ms Georgieva said James began to moan he was ‘going to go to prison’ because going outside at that hour would have triggered his electronic tag.

She said: ‘I saw my own face and was so shocked by the sight of me with blood and bruises everywhere.

‘Instead of comforting me, he just started going insane and shouting ”I’m going to go to prison, I’m going to be in so much trouble”.

‘He was only thinking of himself, as him going outside would have triggered his tag.

‘He was only worried about himself and I just thought I needed to comfort him and I started telling him it’s all going to be okay, it’ll be fine.

‘Then he suddenly changed again, he dragged me upstairs, took all my clothes off and put me in the shower and starting all the blood off me.

‘The house was trashed, my face was broken, and he was just washing me so gently – it was like he was a psychopath.

‘He got me out of the shower, put me in a towel and said ”I love you so much, it’ll all be okay, I’m so sorry”.

‘He said if anybody asks, just say it was a food fight, and I just thought to listen to what he said, I was in complete shock.’

Ms Georgieva said it was at this point the police arrived, detaining James and asking her what had happened.

She initially stuck to James’ story in shock but then told the police the truth, while James was arrested.

She said: ‘He went to get changed and as he did, the police arrived because the neighbours had heard everything and apparently it sounded like a sledgehammer when he was hitting me and breaking things.

‘The police came into the house and because I was in shock I said to them it was a food fight because I was scared he would hear me.

‘The police grabbed Josh and tried to get him downstairs, he asked them ”aren’t you going to clean this up” referring to all the mess he made.

‘They took me in my towel and put me on the sofa, I had six or seven police there and I was crying, telling them nothing’s happened but they eventually got it out of me.

‘Apparently at the same time, according to my neighbours, when he was arrested and put into the van he was going mental, punching the van and all sorts.’

James got in contact with Ms Georgieva after being taken into custody and she said he continued to manipulate her and tried to get her to drop the charges.

But she went through with them and said she wanted to raise awareness of what men like him are capable of to make sure nobody else gets hurt by them again.

She said: ‘It was awful but the worst thing was the heartbreak. I never thought someone who was supposed to love you and you’d taken into your house would do that to you.

‘I had to give a statement and nearly two weeks later he called me from prison and he started manipulating me again, writing me love letters but also being really mean as well, saying ‘nobody will believe you’ and things like that to try and get me to retract my statement.

‘I nearly did, but then I got in touch with his ex-girlfriends and he, being a narcissist, kept telling me they were crazy and all that but they weren’t at all.

‘They were similar to me and it seems like he has a target for women like me.

‘He had abused so many other women prior to me, I was not the first and what his mate had told me that night was true.’

‘I’m so glad I stuck with the charges. I was so scared he wouldn’t plead guilty because he never has before.

‘This is what I want to raise awareness of, having been in a relationship like this I’ve found out about Clare’s Law and all these helpful thing that you can use if you have suspicions about your partner.

‘I just want to raise awareness for things like that because I don’t want anybody else getting hurt.

‘I like to think I’m not a stupid girl and I’m so embarrassed that I fell for someone like that but I know now it was not my fault. They pick their victims and he was a proper manipulator. I can so easily see it happening to someone again.

‘He’s a good-looking guy, and I can see why I was fooled. I don’t want anyone else to be hurt like that.’

James was jailed, slapped with a restraining order to stop him contacting Ms Georgieva or going to her address and ordered to pay £156 in court costs.

Ms Georgieva said it was ‘very difficult’ to hear the situation relived and said she was ‘disappointed’ in the sentence, but was pleased it would extend his stay in prison.

She said: ‘I was disappointed but kind of happy the sentence will run after his current one since he thought it might run alongside – it means extra time in prison.

‘He looked so cold and had no remorse whatsoever. There was no apology for his actions. It’s been the most awful year for me but now I’m trying to turn the page.’

Source: dailymail