A woman has told of the terrifying moment a "friend" pulled a machete from his trousers, almost slicing off her thumb.
20-year-old Maddy Browne said she's been scarred for life and suffers nightmares and panic attacks since the incident in March, as a result of which she needed 11 stitches for a gaping wound in her hand.
Last week, Kelly Hughes, 20, of Tan y Bryn Bach in Cwm, near Rhyl, was jailed for 16 months at Caernarfon Crown Court for unlawful wounding and attempting to pervert the course of justice after offering his victim money to withdraw her complaint.
Read more stories like his here.
However, as he'd already spent eight months on remand, Hughes - an ADHD sufferer - was told he was to be released "imminently", which has left Maddy feeling "extremely let down by the justice system."
"I met Kelly roughly 11 months ago, he came across as a decent, pleasant and easy-going boy, and over the course of the time we got close," she told North Wales Live.
"We slowly slipped into a relationship with one another but it ended fairly quickly afterwards and both agreed being friends was the best choice.
"On the night of the incident, I was out with Kelly having a drink in Rhyl when I decided I wanted to go home as it was getting late. So I phoned my cousin to come and pick me up.
"Kelly insisted on coming in the car after being told no several times. He said he’d put fuel in the car and buy us some food, so we didn't anything of it.
"We thought no harm would come of this and ended up letting him come."
But after making a phone call, Hughes decided he wanted to get dropped off in Colwyn Bay "to meet a guy for a fight."
"I continued to tell him that we weren’t dropping him off but he became aggressive and abusive towards my cousin, so he agreed to drop him off just to shut him up.
"Once we got into Colwyn Bay we saw the lad he was meant to be fighting, along with many other people. He insisted that we carry on driving as he was scared to get out of the car."
It was then that Maddy said things took a "drastic change."
"His attitude and behaviour fightened me. Kelly refused to leave the car unless I came with him and pulled out a machete from his trousers.
"I had been with him all night, and was shocked beyond words to see it."
In her attempts to grab the weapon from Hughes, Maddy suffered two deep cuts to her hand.
*Warning: explicit image below
She added: "The knife was about one-foot long and cut through my hand like butter. I could have lost the use of my fingers but Kelly seemed to have no remorse.
"Following the incident I have become very nervous around sudden movements and suffer from pain in my hand.
"I have nightmares and panic attacks."
The following day Hughes, fearing a long jail sentence, rang Maddy to offer her money to withdraw her statement.
But Maddy, of Llandudno, recorded the phone call and gave the evidence to police.
She said: "It was obvious he only thought about himself. I am scarred for life and could have lost my hand, but all he could think about was getting away without punishment."
In court, the judge Her Honour Judge Saffman told Hughes, "You did not intend to slice the hand of Ms Browne. It had been 'reckless not intentional'."
She imposed a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Maddy directly or indirectly, or referring to her on social media or getting someone else to do so.
Reacting to the sentence, Maddy said she felt "extremely let down."
"Knife crime is the worst crime, but it's even worse when someone goes out intentionally with a knife," she added.
"And now he's back out on the streets."
To get the latest email updates from WalesOnline click here.
