Man viciously attacks pregnant girlfriend on crutches until her skull split
Jamar Bernard Woody was convicted of malicious wounding for attacking his pregnant girlfriend on June 8, 2016. He received an eight-year sentence and begged the judge for leniency.
He asked for the judge to not make him “watch my sons grow up through pictures.”
“This is my breaking point,” he said, sounding panicky. “I’m not fit to take this right now.”
The jury recommended eight years, which was two above the maximum and that recommendation will stand.
“I don’t find that to be unreasonable,” Judge Chris Clemens stated.
Woody’s girlfriend Shatory Irving was not only pregnant but also on crutches from a broken ankle.
The attack went down inside a busy Roanoke convenience store and was all caught on security cameras.
Jurors were stunned when they saw the video of the much larger Woody turn on Irving, boxing her in the head and beating her further as she went down.
The beating stopped when a cashier ordered Woody to leave.
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Doctors who testified during the trial said that Irving suffered an inch long cut to her forehead that left her skull exposed.
“She really is fortunate that she wasn’t hurt more than she actually was,” Roanoke Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Billingsley stated.
Irving gave testimony during the trial that she has admitted was designed to keep Woody out of jail.
She described times in which she behaved inappropriately.
“You have to understand, it is a volatile, toxic relationship,” defense attorney Melvin Hill said.
Part of Woody’s defense was his mental illness.
“I could tell, throughout the years, that he’d been having mental issues,” his sister, Jasma Woody said. “I’ve watched this for the past 19 years of my life.”
The judge said that he would make psychiatric treatment part of the sentencing order.
When he attacked Irving, Woody was on probation for a 2008 federal drug conviction, he could now face revocation on the suspended time in that case.
Despite the beating Irving’s baby was born healthy though premature. The baby is now in good health.
