A BRAVE domestic abuse victim who was buried alive has spoken out about how she clawed her way out of the ground after regaining consciousness.
Stacey Gwilliam has told The Sun of how she felt paralysed after her bodybuilder fiance brutally throttled her before burying her in a shallow grave.
Keith Hughes choked his petite fiancee and dumped her body underneath a pile of foliage after he became enraged during a walk along the beach.
Ms Gwilliam has recalled how she blacked out during the attack and woke up surrounded by darkness.
“It felt like I was buried in a grave — there were dead branches, ferns and shrubs all over me,” she said. “All the undergrowth was so heavy on top of me I was struggling to breathe or remember where I was.
“I felt paralysed; everything seemed to be happening so slow,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.”
Traumatic ... Stacey Gwilliam clawed her way out of a bush grave. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied
Ms Gwilliam went on to detail the horrific story of how she struggled to drag herself out of her would be grave.
“I managed to turn over and clawed — digging with my nails and dragged myself out.”
The 34-year-old then collapsed outside a golf club by Caswell Bay, near Swansea, where people called for help.
Hughes had previously spent three years and nine months behind bars for three separate attacks on Ms Gwilliam but she kept taking him back because she loved him.
Ms Gwilliam had been diagnosed with cervical cancer while Hughes was in prison and they rekindled their romance after his release.
“He was released in February and proposed to me in July in Bracelet Bay near where he attacked me,” she said. “He had been violent to me several times but I loved him and he promised he wouldn’t hurt me again.
“I finished with him the weekend before the attack after he kicked me in the stomach and stole money out of my bank account,” she said. “But Keith said he was sorry and asked me to go for a walk so we could get the relationship back. We had only been engaged for two weeks — he showed remorse.”
Ms Gwilliam said the decorator became violent after she refused to take him back.
The 39-year-old put her in a headlock and told her: “If I can’t have you then nobody else is ever going to have you.”
“I dropped to my knees and there was a struggle but I couldn’t get free because he is ... as strong as an ox,” she said. “I ended up lying on my back on the ground with him on top of me with his hands round my throat.
‘Strong as an ox ... Stacey Gwilliam says Keith Hughes overpowered her. Picture: Australscope.Source:australscope
I was trying to gouge him and fight him off — he was just glaring at me. He jumped on to my chest with his knees and then seemed to let me go,” she said. “I started to get up to run away but he grabbed me by the neck and pushed my face into the ground. I couldn’t breathe, I was completely out.”
The brave former Virgin Atlantic customer service’s employee was put into a coma for two weeks by doctors as she recovered from terrible injuries to her lungs, mouth, neck and tongue.
Cops caught up with Hughes when he crashed his fiancé’s car after going on a vodka bender.
On his arrest he told police: “You’ll never find her.”
In court he told jurors: “I panicked. I thought, ‘What have I done?’ I was not intending to kill her.
“I put her in the bushes and put some branches over her. I thought she was dead.”
Ms Gwilliam, who has to use a walking stick after the savage attack, said: “No matter what he gets, it won’t be as bad as what I face for the rest of my life.”
“Keith had a good heart and I was attracted by his charm but he was like a Jekyll and Hyde character.
“He’s ruined my life — I have constant flashbacks and it will be a long, long time before I trust a man again.”
Hughes is due for sentencing today and could face life behind bars.
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