“Then he said: ‘I can’t stop now, I need to finish you off because I am not going to jail’.”
In May 2021, Martina Turner was setting the table at her home in Winlaton Mill, ready for breakfast with her partner Steven Wood, when she was victim to an unprovoked and brutal attack.
The 54-year-old was stabbed 29 times by Steven with three different kitchen knives and then locked in a cupboard and left for dead.
In the hopes of raising more awareness about domestic violence, Martina opened up to Holly Taylor in this honest and harrowing interview.
In her own words, this is her story:
“It was a Friday morning and I had just got back from the doctors.
I was setting the table ready to eat breakfast and could see on Steven’s face that he was bothered by something.
We had planned a trip away but due to Covid, Boris hadn’t yet announced whether restrictions would be lifted so he wasn’t happy and he was agitated.
He was bipolar so I put the mood swings down to his medical condition.
He would experience extreme highs where he would do absolutely anything for me and shower me in gifts no matter how expensive. He could be so generous and charming and even had my friends and family under his spell.
We had been together for about a year and a half at this point after meeting on Match.com.
I did everything right when we dated like telling my friends where I was and meeting in public and didn’t see any red flags.
In the time we were together, he never laid a hand on me which is a big shock really compared to the brutality of what he did.
I told him to go for a walk with our dog, Tove, to calm down and every suggestion I was making, he was refusing.
To diffuse the situation, I said I was going to go out and that’s when he went to the cupboard, got a knife and then stabbed me from behind and said: ‘You’re going nowhere’.
Because of the adrenaline, I didn’t realise what he had done at first and it just felt like a fist in my back, that was until I saw the blood running from my shirt.
That’s when he got a second knife and I tried to reason with him from the other side of the island.
He then said: ‘I can’t stop now, I need to finish you off because I am not going to jail’.
He began to stab my legs, my breasts, face and as I put my hands infront of my face to protect it, I could feel the knife slicing my tendons on my hands.
He then got the bread knife out of the drawer, and I tried to hide in the cupboard but he rammed the knife into my chest.
That’s when my survival instinct kicked in and I told him to call his only son who he adored and when he answered, that’s when Steven started to slow down stabbing me.
I was trying to breathe and talk to his son on the phone and said he has done something terrible and to call an ambulance.
He then went upstairs, changed his top, locked me in the cupboard then went out and left me for dead.
I’m not sure if it was intuition but I usually leave my phone in my hand bag and at that moment it was in the cupboard with me so I dialled 999.
The lady from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) was amazing and kept me calm and talking but at this point I had no idea he had locked me in the house so nobody could enter.
Emergency services smashed through my window to get to me and the helicopter from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) was already on its way.”
On scene, GNAAS’ paramedic and doctor team made life-saving interventions like giving Martina a blood transfusion to stabilise her condition until she got to hospital.
“GNAAS couldn’t take me by helicopter as I couldn’t lie down because the knife was still stuck in my chest, so they decided it was quicker and safer to go by road to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI).
While I was receiving the life-saving care at home, Steven had jumped from the Redhugh Bridge in Newcastle where it was believed that he had tried to take his own life.
I was rescued as he jumped.
The police and NEAS were so shocked when they seen me, slumped in the cupboard and covered in blood. I remember one of them saying: ‘I have never seen anything like this’.
When I got to the RVI, they found that I had 29 stab wounds in total and 17 of those were in my back.
I was taken to a different department of the hospital and given a different name as I was so paranoid that he was still coming for me.
The police had informed by children and they had appointed a family liaison officer as they didn’t think I would survive.
The surgeon told me he was trying to take the knife out of my chest but it was so difficult as he thought removing it would damage all of my other organs.
The doctor told me: ‘You are a survivor’.
I was in hospital for six weeks and was just so happy to get home to see my puppy and friends.
Steven was in hospital for two weeks and he denied the attack but the lawyer said to him there was too much evidence so he pleaded guilty.
He will serve a minimum of 12 years.
My son had to care for me as my hands were so badly damaged and bandaged that I couldn’t do anything for myself.
Now I have a fear of knives and have nightmares and bad mood swings.
I can’t have people stand behind me now, I can’t queue and if at a restaurant I always must sit with my back against the wall.
Last year, I visited GNAAS’ ‘Blood on Board’ event which was celebrating 500 patients receiving blood and it was amazing to meet the team who helped me that day.
I felt guilty they used the helicopter and its fuel to get to me and I was taken by road but I will still be forever grateful.”
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