A brave young doctor who was stabbed 11 times and doused in petrol by an ex-boyfriend she met on Tinder in a horrific attack three years ago has found love again.
Angela Jay was left for dead in her Port Macquarie home on the New South Wales mid north coast by former boyfriend Paul Lambert in November 2016, just three months after meeting him on the dating app.
He had broken into her home and hid in a cupboard waiting for Dr Jay to return home from work after she recently broke up with him.
Dr Angela Jay has rebuilt her life, three years after she was left for dead by a former boyfriend
Dr Jay managed to escape from him and stumbled to a neighbour’s home to get help while Lambert, 36, was later shot dead by police on the Pacific Highway, near Bonville, following a high speed chase and stand-off.
Despite the physical and mental scars she still bears, Dr Jay, now 31, has rebuilt a new life three hours north in Coffs Harbour, where she is training to be an obstetrician-gynecologist.
She has also been in a relationship with a fellow doctor for 18 months.
Dr Jay, who is an outspoken advocate against domestic violence, is on a new crusade, calling on dating apps to check users’ history for violent offences.
She believes something as simple as asking whether they have outstanding apprehended violence orders and any history of family or sexual violence offences ‘would be the first step towards change’.
Angela Jay is on a mission calling on dating apps users’ history for violent offences
Paul Lambert (pictured) stabbed his ex Dr Angela Jay 11 times and doused her in petrol
‘I just think that if they asked a question about a user’s history of violence, it would be a huge step in the cultural shift, where perpetrators have some accountability in the prevention of family violence,’ the Californian-born doctor told Who Magazine.
When she first met Lambert, Dr Jay had no idea Lambert had been the subject of 10 apprehended violence order from five different women until she tried to end the relationship after six weeks.
He had been kicked out of the US 18 months prior to the attack for stalking another woman.
Lambert – then going by his birth name Paul Michael Scales – was arrested in Orlando, Florida, on May 11, 2015, for breaching a restraining order against another woman he was obsessed with.
He was also on parole for assaulting a woman in Queensland at the time.
After the attack that almost claimed her life, Dr Jay became the target of victim blame for going onto Tinder to find love.
‘Most women are raised to be fearful- that they have a big role in maintaining their own personal safety,’ she told the magazine.
‘But when talking about preventing violence, we need to shift the focus from the victim to the perpetrator.’
Dr Jay recently stepped up her new crusade after White Ribbon Australia went into liquidation earlier this month.
‘My role as an advocate for the organisation has given me so much strength over the past few years, and it was my fundraising efforts for the White Ribbon that initially sparked my desire to speak publicly about my personal experience of survival,’ Dr Jay wrote on Instagram.
Dr Jay has found love with a fellow doctor Ben (pictured) and have been together for 18 months
Dr Jay still bares the physical scars from the horrifying attack that almost claimed her life
‘I am so thankful for all of the love and support I have received from the White Ribbon family during the darkest time in my life, and I will cherish the life-long friends I have made.”
‘I will continue to fight for a brighter future where family violence and sexual assault are unthinkable—I will never stop using the voice that White Ribbon helped me find.’
In September 2017, Dr Jay revealed to Daily Mail Australia she can’t look at photos of the man who hurt her, and is left shaken if she comes in no contact with men who look like him.
All it takes is a man to walk past her on the street wearing her attacker’s cologne to bring on a crippling attack of PTSD.
Dr Angela Jay now lives in Coffs Harbour and is training to be an obstetrician-gynecologist
‘Even though my attacker is no longer here, the memory of him and what he did terrifies me every day,’ Dr Jay told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I think the recovery of any major trauma takes time – I am coming to terms with the fact that I will never be the same person I was before.
‘I think about the attack every day – sometimes it is brief, sometimes it’s not.’
‘And of course I have the scars – every time I see them it brings me back. One of the scars on my arm is very painful and uncomfortable when touched, which also brings me back.’