CELEBRATING her daughter’s 21st birthday, Brandi Smith had no idea of the horrors that would be in store for her that night.
Little did the 51-year-old know but it would be the night she came closest to death.
That evening her violent husband, Steve Perry, 53, launched a ferocious attack on Brandi, dragging her along the road in his speeding car, before pummelling her face and attempting to gouge out her eye.
Miraculously, Brandi survived but was left with life-changing injuries.
In 2018, Perry was sentenced to 18 years in jail for aggravated kidnapping and first degree attempted murder.
Now, eight years on from the attack, Brandi, who suffers complex PTSD and is now blind in her right eye, is speaking out to raise awareness of domestic abuse.
Brandi, from Arkansas, says: “Steve was too good to be true from the beginning.
“He said and did all the right things.
“But the moment we married, everything changed. He revealed the monster he really was.”
Brandi met Perry in 2014 at a casino while on a night out with friends.
Two months later they went on a date and initially they agreed to embark on a long distance relationship.
Within six months, Perry had quit his 30-year job as a car wash manager and moved in with Brandi.
She remembers: “Steve was a dream partner at first. Constantly complimenting me and telling me how lucky he was to have me.
“He treated me like a princess.”
He doted on her two children from a previous marriage, Taylor, now 29, and Tanner, now 18.
The pair married the following year but a few months after, Perry began to exhibit obsessive behaviour.
Brandi explains: “He had to know my every move.
“If I took too long at the shops, he’d call, demanding to know where I was.
“Working as a team manager at a medical clinic, I’d often work long shifts and one day, Steve decided he didn’t want me seeing male patients at work.
“He would accuse me of cheating all of the time.
“If I didn’t respond to calls or texts he would flip out and show up at my workplace.”
Brandi says she would often play down his controlling behaviour, telling colleagues he was being ‘protective’.
But eventually, Brandi confronted Perry about his behaviour.
She says: “I told him I was unhappy as his wife.
“Furious he squared up to me and threatened to slit Tanner’s throat in front of me and kill me if I tried to leave.
“I was terrified.”
From then on, Perry continued to threaten Brandi, eventually threatening her with a box cutter.
“He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket in which he’d written, Taylor’s address and Tanner’s school,” she says.
“He told me he could easily get to them.”
Horrified, Brandi walked on eggshells.
Soon after Perry revealed a tattoo on his back.
It was a dagger, piercing a love heart, dripping with blood. The words ‘Brandi’, ‘Taylor’ and ‘Tanner’ were inked in the middle.
Brandi says: “He told me he couldn’t live without us.
“In that moment I feared he’d go through with his threats to hurt us.”
In September 2016, the couple drove to Taylor’s dad’s house to celebrate her 21st.
But at the party, Perry began drinking and Brandi says she started pinching the back of her arm and making threats.
Brandi says: “He was threatening to kill me.
“There was no way I was going home with him. I was so scared.
“I asked Taylor if I could stay with her that night.”
Eventually Taylor’s dad ordered Perry to leave the property.
Only, when Brandi fetched Perry’s mobile from the house and handed it to him in his car, he grabbed her by her shirt, and sped off. Dragging her along the road.
She says: “My flip flops flew off first, then I remember thinking, if he lets go, I’m going to be run over.
“I looked up and my daughter was running after me screaming ‘Mama, mama’.
“Then I saw her fall down in tears.
“As my body bounced up and down, I thought I was going to die.”
Perry stopped the car and pulled Brandi inside, before beating her inside it.
“He told me, ‘We’re going to die today, we’re dying together’”, she recalls.
Moments later he sped off again and crashed into a tree.
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Brandi recalls: “He dragged me out of the car, straddled me and started banging my head over and over on the pavement.
“He then started kicking me in the face with his steel toe -capped boots, before sinking his teeth into my thumb and face.”
Horrifically, Perry then tried to gouge out her right eyeball with his hand.
Moments later, the police arrived and pulled him off her.
Brandi was blue-lighted to Methodist University Hospital, Memphis, where she underwent emergency surgery on her eye, to repair the muscles Perry had torn.
She also had an operation to fix her teeth as well as reconstructive surgery where skin from her chest was grafted onto her face to repair the wound left after he’d torn off a chunk of skin.
While Brandi recovered on the ward, she discovered Perry was being treated for crash injuries four beds down.
I keep going for my children, I will never let that monster win
Brandi Smith
She says: “Although under police guard, I feared he’d finish me off, so I discharged myself.
“Taylor drove me to my mum’s where work colleagues had set up a bed in the living room.
“Every day they came to clean my wounds and change dressings.”
It took Brandi a month to be able to walk properly and she was unable to open her eye for eight months.
When she eventually did, she suffered double vision and terrible headaches.
For two years, Perry denied the charges against him.
While Brandi underwent three more surgeries to fix her eye, she had to fork out £1500 to divorce him.
Eventually Perry took a plea deal and was sentenced to 18 years for aggravated kidnapping and first degree attempted murder.
Bravely, Brandi faced him in court.
She says: “Before he was sent down, the judge allowed him to speak.
“He turned to me and said ‘Brandi, I love you. When I get out we’ll be together again’.
“It made me sick that he was allowed the final word.”
“Today, my vision has gone in my right eye, despite undergoing multiple surgeries over the years.
“I suffer PTSD and have severe anxiety.
“But every day, I keep going for my children.
“I will never let that monster win.”
