PINNED against the door of a nightclub, there was little Suzie Mahe could do as her ex pummelled her until she was black and blue and tore out her eyelashes, spitting insults at her throughout.
After suffering months of relentless sexual and physical violence, the mum-of-one decided it was time to take a stand against Gavin Roberts, her vile abuser whose campaign of terror knew no bounds.
Afraid that Roberts would deny his wicked behaviour, Suzie took to secretly recording him, from his acidic verbal abuse to frenzied attacks which left her unable to breathe.
In disturbing footage obtained by The Sun, the vile thug can be heard bursting into a rage and smashing something as Suzie tells him to get out of her home.
PINNED against the door of a nightclub, there was little Suzie Mahe could do as her ex pummelled her until she was black and blue and tore out her eyelashes, spitting insults at her throughout.
After suffering months of relentless sexual and physical violence, the mum-of-one decided it was time to take a stand against Gavin Roberts, her vile abuser whose campaign of terror knew no bounds.
Afraid that Roberts would deny his wicked behaviour, Suzie took to secretly recording him, from his acidic verbal abuse to frenzied attacks which left her unable to breathe.
In disturbing footage obtained by The Sun, the vile thug can be heard bursting into a rage and smashing something as Suzie tells him to get out of her home.
PINNED against the door of a nightclub, there was little Suzie Mahe could do as her ex pummelled her until she was black and blue and tore out her eyelashes, spitting insults at her throughout.
After suffering months of relentless sexual and physical violence, the mum-of-one decided it was time to take a stand against Gavin Roberts, her vile abuser whose campaign of terror knew no bounds.
Afraid that Roberts would deny his wicked behaviour, Suzie took to secretly recording him, from his acidic verbal abuse to frenzied attacks which left her unable to breathe.
In disturbing footage obtained by The Sun, the vile thug can be heard bursting into a rage and smashing something as Suzie tells him to get out of her home.
As a result, the monster was arrested and eventually jailed for 15 years for 11 different offences, including one count of rape, two of sexual penetration without consent, and three counts of grave and criminal assault.
Suzie, now 31, met Roberts online in July 2022 and the relationship quickly spiralled into violence and abuse.
Roberts, 47, first attacked her at a nightclub just a few months in, leaving her traumatised, the Royal Court of Jersey heard.
“It left physical marks on my neck,” she said, adding that it felt as though the attack “lasted forever”.
The violent outburst prompted Suzie to start recording his behaviour, gradually building a case against him that would put him behind bars.
A few days later, while away on a trip together, Roberts subjected her to a horrific ordeal at a hotel, abusing her with sex toys and ultimately raping her.
The ghastly assault left her black and blue all over, with a bruise in the middle of her nose, on her eyes, chin, arms and legs.
“It was a long-winded attack that went through the night of physical punching, once again strangling and then leading to rape and using toys on me without my permission,” said Suzie.
“I felt like my body went into a protective way, and it blacked out a lot of things for me, but I still remember him stripping me naked.
“When you’re so far away from home, you’re quite vulnerable.
“You have to just let it happen to you and then deal with it afterwards.
“I was in shock that it happened to me – there was a bit of denial.”
She added that she was slowly coming to terms with the fact that he was an exceptionally violent and dangerous individual.
When Suzie confronted Roberts later in the day about the assault, he insisted she had inflicted the bruises on herself when tumbling in the lift and the bedroom.
He messaged one of her friends saying that she had gone missing and was “off her face” in a cowardly bid to cover his tracks.
She was forced to undergo extensive speech surgery following the ordeal to regain her voice.
On the couple’s return from the trip, Suzie feared for her life and recorded his erratic behaviour on her phone as proof.
In one of the recordings, we hear Roberts chillingly making his way up the stairs as he loses his temper and tells her to “f*** off” and calls her a c***.
Shortly afterwards, Roberts pounced on her in yet another vile attack, strangling her so hard she vomited.
Suzie recalls how he would sickeningly gloat in his abuse, and was “almost proud” of the injuries he’d inflicted on her.
“He would look around my body at my injuries and almost enjoy it,” she said.
The monster was arrested following the assault and jailed for 15 years for 11 different offences, including one count of rape, two of sexual penetration without consent, and three counts of grave and criminal assault.
Suzie said: “Just hours before he got arrested, he once again looked at what he had done to me, and he said, ‘Do you think I could’ve killed you?’ and I said yes.”
A second woman came forward to report two separate assaults between February and September 2022.
He also received three charges of voyeurism after filming a third woman while they were having sex.
Suzie campaigned tirelessly for changes in the law to prevent others from suffering the same ordeal, including the introduction of a standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation.
Voted in on March 11 this year, the offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
She said: “Strangulation is far more serious than people often realise.
“In my view, it is a clear indicator of a risk to life. I was devastated when it was treated simply as a grave and criminal assault.
“I felt it deserved recognition as a standalone offence.”
Other amendments included emergency domestic abuse protection orders, which will mean police are able to make 72-hour orders to ban alleged abusers from contacting their victim.
Reflecting on the changes, Suzie said that her campaigning has been a rewarding outcome to what was otherwise a deeply traumatic experience.
“Helping secure that change has honestly meant more to me than his sentence,” said Suzie, who waived her anonymity in the campaign process.
“It means future victims will be better protected.”
