A man stabs his girlfriend 24 times with a 12 inch carving knife after his mother discovers that she is pregnant

I was 37, divorced and mother of two girls of age to go to elementary school when a longtime friend contacted Facebook.

I knew Babur Karamat Raja, Bobby with his friends, for 25 years and we were talking fast.

From our first date, it was a whirlwind – within two weeks he told me that he loved me and three months later he moved in.

It was like a fairy tale.

Bobby was brilliant with my daughters, so when he told me that he wanted to be a father more than anything in the world, I decided to try to have another baby. .

Bobby was on the moon when I discovered that I was pregnant.

He came looking for me crying and said that I would have given him the best possible gift.

One thing kept me from feeling really happy: Bobby came from a strict Muslim family and his mother was obsessed with the idea that he had an arranged marriage.

I thought that if she had just met me and seen how happy we were, she could change her mind.

But he told me that she refused to meet me.

When I was eight months pregnant, which had started as an ordinary Friday, Bobby had asked me to meet him in town for an appointment at the bank.

I parked in a car park just a short walk from downtown Sutton Coldfield.

There is a wide, tree-lined driveway next to a cemetery that is a shortcut to the city.

I hesitated to take the longest and busiest route, but it was raining, I took the shortcut.

I heard footsteps following me and saw a scruffy man with his head down and the hood pulled up. I therefore accelerated the pace to reach the end of the alley where were buildings and people.

But when I arrived on the street, he jumped on me.

In a few seconds, he pulled out a 12-inch carving knife and stabbed me in the chest again and again.

I do not remember the pain. All I could think of was my bump and my daughters at home with their nan.

Two pbaders came to my rescue, jumping on him and trying to hold him back.

But even if they tried to hold him back, he always stabbed me.

I shouted, "Why are you doing this to me?"

The survival instinct allowed me to free myself and I fell into the aisle a few meters before I collapsed.

He was released from his rescuers and continued to stab me while I lay on the floor.

He held my arm and sawed through my wrist, opening my artery.

He stabbed me in the stomach and then carried the knife to his throat, just as a young boy arrived around the corner and tore it.

Luckily, a police patrol walked nearby and heard me screaming.

The attack lasted nine minutes and I stabbed my stomach, liver, uterus, chest and wrist.

Blood spilled all over the artery of my wrist and I could see inside my muscles on my arm, like a drawing of a book of anatomy.

The police pressed my wounds, trying to stop the bleeding, and guided my hand so that my own intestines overflowed.

I was airlifted from the scene.

I was losing consciousness and my right lung had collapsed.

At the hospital, the doctors ran with my stretcher in the hallways of the hospital.

I was rushed to the theater, where 30 different doctors waited.

I said to myself, "I can not fight anymore, fall asleep" when I went down.

The next day, I woke up surrounded by doctors who told me that, miraculously, I had a little girl lying in the incubator near my bed.

The knife had missed him by 2 mm.

There was a fan on my mouth and when they removed it, I asked, "Where is Bobby?"

Three police officers entered the room and announced a news that broke the Earth.

It was Bobby who had attacked me.

I did not want to believe it but a strange and fragmented memory came back of the attack: Bobby's face looking at me and thinking he would have come to save me.

The badailant appeared to be much bigger than Bobby, but the police explained that he had a backpack under his hoodie, filled with extra clothes and trash bags for his getaway.

My world has collapsed.

I was completely broke, but I had to continue for my daughters.

Two weeks later, I was released from the hospital.

Doctors say they do not know how alive I am.

People ask me if I ever thought Bobby was able to do it, but it was wrong with the Bobby I had known for decades.

It's like he was dead that day in the driveway and I cried.

Three months later, he pleaded guilty in court.

He was cold, calm and detached while I sobbed.

He gave absurd reasons, for example under the pressure of his family and that he knew his mother would never accept me.

Financial problems were also unearthed, which I was not aware of – he was fired from his business.

He claimed that these factors made him temporarily lose his head, but I did not understand why killing me would have even been an option.

I was devastated when he was sentenced to only 18 years in prison.

It was a horrible and calculated attack, with no warning signs, but it should be released conditionally in nine years.

Several months after the attack, I visited him in prison.

I was determined that he would look me in the eye and explain me.

He apologized casually and spoke as if I had been attacked by another person, saying that I was brave and proud of myself.

I followed intensive therapy to overcome my post-traumatic stress disorder.

It's very difficult for girls to deal with all this, but they have been incredibly strong.

At the hospital, I was worried about what they would feel about the baby – she was half half Bobby, after all – but in any case, it only reinforced their love for her.

They are so protective of her.

My baby, who is now three years old, was deprived of oxygen during the attack and we do not know yet if he will have development problems.

Child psychologists advised me to talk about the attack from an early age in order to avoid a subsequent shock.

It is exceptionally difficult and I dread the day she interferes and she has to face the terrible reality.

After the attack, I thought it would be just me and the kids for the rest of our lives.

But about six months after the attack, I realized that I could not let Bobby isolate me forever.

I have recently met a lovely person and I am very happy – something that I would have never thought possible.

I am determined not to let Bobby upset my life and I am back to work with a great new job as a fundraiser for a children's charity.

People say that I am a source of inspiration to survive this, but I do not feel like that.

I just hope my story will show people that you can cross anything and come back from the edge.

Still Standing by Natalie Queiroz was released on June 13, published by John Blake in the paperback, £ 8.99