Stoke Sentinel
February 6, 2015
TRAUMATISED Gemma Holland has told how she feared she was going to die after being battered by the father of her four children.
The 29-year-old suffered a broken back, a black eye and severe bruising after being attacked by former boyfriend Dallas Mpala following a chance meeting at her Norton home.
She had split from Mpala back in 2009 and moved house after he was jailed for two years for whipping her with a belt and kicking and punching her.
Now Gemma – who claims the verbal and physical threats started in 2005 – is urging domestic violence victims to get out of their abusive relationships immediately.
She said: “If there are any women going through what I suffered then they need to leave straight away and not look back.”
Mother-of-four Gemma has spoken out after seeing Mpala jailed for three years following the latest attack.
The parents had bumped into each other at a children’s party last April.
She said: “I was at a friend’s house and he had been invited to the same children’s party. He just went mad at me right in front of everyone and I had to get away.
“That night he turned up at my house with a bottle of wine, saying he was sorry and had nowhere to stay, so I let him in, and I took pity on him and said he could stay on the sofa.
“I went to bed and left him to it, and that’s when he attacked me.”