Samuel Farley was jailed for 12 years and six months at Teesside Crown Court
An engineer who became psychotic on drugs battered his 19-year-old girlfriend so savagely her own father did not recognise her.
Samuel Farley, 21, punched, kicked and stamped on fashion student Esther Garrity 27 times while he was high on cocaine, LSD and ketamine.
Miss Garrity, a teenage fashion student at Manchester Metropolitan University, lost teeth and was in a coma for nearly three months with a fractured nose, cheek and jaw and permanent brain damage.
Miss Garrity’s injuries were so bad her head swelled to three times its normal size and her mother collapsed when she saw her in hospital.
A paramedic who attended the scene said her injuries were the worst he had seen anyone survive.
She spent 108 days in hospital and continues to suffer the consequences of the attack in April. As the 19-year-old lay close to death Farley was found nearby yelling ‘I am God’ and ranting unintelligibly as the result of the drug.
Her boyfriend admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent on Tuesday after being cleared of an attempted murder charge.
The design engineer from Marton in Middlesbrough, had taken cocaine, ketamine and LSD before the attack.
Farley was today jailed for 12 years and six months at Teesside Crown Court for the horrific attack and two counts of supplying cocaine.
Farley, 21, punched, kicked and stamped on fashion student Esther Garrity 27 times while he was high on cocaine, LSD and ketamine
Miss Garrity’s injuries were so bad her head swelled to three times its normal size and her father could not recognise her when he saw her in hospital
Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC said: ‘This case effectively illustrates the dangers of drug taking.
‘This is, on any view, a tragic case, for it involves the fact that two young hitherto vibrant and talented young people have been blighted.
‘Blighted, of course, Samuel Farley, by your actions on that night, effectively blighted by the drugs you chose to take.
‘You would not have become involved in this horrendous attack were it not for the drugs you chose to take.’
In a victim statement, Miss Garrity’s father Francis recalled the shock of seeing her so badly injured in hospital.
He said: ‘They tried to clean her up but I couldn’t recognise the person lying there.
‘Her head was three times the normal size, her injuries were horrific.’
Her mother Victoria Hoban, 44, a former chef, said she collapsed when she saw Miss Garrity in intensive care for the first time.
The judge in the case said the attack illustrated the dangers of drug taking
After the hearing yesterday she said: ‘He had a sense of entitlement and ownership over Esther and the drugs just brought that out of him.
‘Use of drugs in no way absolves one of personal responsibility. He has ruined her life and changed her from the bubbly, outgoing, confident girl that she was.
Miss Garrity’s mother Victoria Hoban, 44, said she collapsed when she saw her daughter in intensive care for the first time
‘Her university career came to an end and we have no way of knowing whether that can ever be resumed, but we can only hope.
‘Seeing her lying in that hospital bed unrecognisable will stay with me for the rest of my life, it is something no parent should ever have to see.’
Sam Green QC, defending, said the drugs caused the defendant, normally a loving and caring boyfriend, to behave psychotically.
Mr Green said friends were astonished to hear what he had done and his behaviour was ‘utterly out of character’.
Miss Garrity and her boyfriend had a large circle of friends and were thought to be a loving couple, John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said.
Farley later told police they had a ‘wonderful relationship, never had any arguments and were like best mates’.
But on April 28 he went against his girlfriend’s wishes and took LSD during a night out with friends.
He also took cocaine and had ketamine in his system when he was arrested.
The court heard how he had a previous bad experience on LSD which led a friend to urge him not to take it again.
Miss Garrity was only mildly intoxicated when a row, apparently inspired by his jealousy, developed as they walked home.
He picked up a 7ft piece of wood from a for sale sign but did not hit her with it when she told him not to be ‘stupid’.
Instead, Farley, who went to the gym five times a week, set upon her with his hands and feet, with the blows becoming more frenzied.
Miss Garrity’s pleas were heard by local residents who came to her help.
Her last words before she fell unconscious were: ‘Stop it, you’re going to kill me.’
He left her bleeding from the mouth, nose and ears and assaulted two men who tried to grab him.
Farley, who went to the gym five times a week, set upon his girlfriend with his hands and feet, with the blows becoming more frenzied
He shouted ‘I am God’ as he struggled with police arresting him and on the way to hospital he was ‘raving in an incomprehensible fashion’, Mr Elvidge said.
He was sedated and the next morning, after asking ‘How’s my girlfriend’, he claimed he had been spiked with LSD, only later admitting he had taken it voluntarily.
Farley instructed his barrister to issue a series of apologies to his victim, her family, his parents and to the court, Mr Green said.
‘The most important thing I have to say is Samuel Farley is very sorry for the terrible thing he did to Esther Garrity,’ he said.
Body-cam footage taken in hospital showed Farley was ‘profoundly psychotically disturbed’, Mr Green said.
‘This is utterly, utterly out of character,’ he added.
Farley now intends to warn others about the perils of using drugs, his barrister said.
‘He wishes to say to young people, drawing on his own situation with humility, shame but maturity, ‘don’t do drugs, this is what they can do. They do terrible things, shun them’.’
Farley pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent
He was cleared of a separate attempted murder charge.
He also pleaded guilty to four other charges at an earlier hearing in September.
He admitted supplying cocaine, a Class A drug, to Ms Garrity and another man, also on April 29.
And he admitted two counts of assault by beating, against two other men, on the same date.