British model raped and stabbed in Majorca faces attacker in court
Solarpix
A British model who was raped, stabbed, and left for dead after moving to Majorca has returned to the holiday island to face her attacker in court.
Cheryl Maddison, now 25, from County Durham, was stabbed in the chest and left to die in a pool of her own blood in Magaluf, Majorca, in May 2008, after being followed home from her bar job in the party resort.
She managed to survive the ordeal by playing dead.
In July 2011 Mohamed Fadel El Anssari was arrested and charged with rape and attempted murder.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the 31-year-old Moroccan, who was working as a waiter,
confessed to the crime to police, claiming to be high on drink and drugs and suffering from mental illness at the time.
On Tuesday (8 January), Ms Maddison faced her attacker in court on the first of a three-day hearing.
The prosecution has called for 23 years in prison, and for €20,000 in compensation for Ms Maddison.
Describing the ordeal, she told the Shields Gazette that her attacker grabbed her by the hair and dragged her down a set of stairs to her apartment block. "He was screaming, and he said if I didn't shut up he would kill me.
"He dragged me back up the stairs and into the apartment, and onto the balcony.
"He must have noticed the bedroom doors were open, and there was no one else there, so he dragged me into one of the bedrooms. He threw me on the bed and that is when he raped me.
"I was fighting back, scratching his face and calling for help. But he pressed his thumbs on my windpipe until I passed out. When I woke up, I was on the floor.
"I stood up and my feet were slipping, and I looked down and it was blood. That is when I realised he had stabbed me in the chest.
"He didn't have a knife when he was attacking me, and the police think he took it from the kitchen in my apartment.
"He kept on punching me in the back. I was crying and shouting and making quite a lot of noise, and that is when he stabbed me in the neck.
"That's when I realised I had to play dead. If I hadn't done that, he would have kept going until I was dead."
Cheryl was in hospital in Spain for two weeks after the attack, and was treated for stab wounds and a collapsed lung.
She is now looking forward to putting the horrific experience behind her.
According to the Northern Echo, she said: "I've known this court case was coming for well over a year and I knew I had to do this, so I've time to get used to it, conquer my nerves and stay strong."
She added: "I just hope he gets the maximum time in prison so he can't hurt any one else."
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