Woman shares moment she came face-to-face with her rapist ex-boyfriend after his release from jail

I thought, 'My god, is this what it feels like to be raped?'

A trial followed one year later and Steve was eventually convicted and handed a six-year sentence (Getty Images)

A woman who was violently and repeatedly raped by her ex-boyfriend has described the harrowing moment she came face to face with him years after the horror attack.

Emma Riggs, who has waived her right to anonymity, was violated three times by the man.

She first met Steve when working in a pub. He was a customer and they soon embarked on a relationship.

The pair moved in together before having a child, but she left him two years later when he became controlling.

On the day he attacked her, he had repeatedly asked to meet as he had something important to tell her.

She gave in and got a lift with him to the shops.

After accusing her of being in a relationship with a male friend, he flew into a rage.

She said: “We started arguing and suddenly, just like that, he flipped. He turned the car round with a screech and started driving erratically in the opposite direction. I tried to calm him down but he snatched my phone and smashed it. Then, he drove to an unlit viewpoint that looks out over a wooded valley, where he forced me head-down into the back seat. That's when he raped me.

“When he finished, I climbed back into the front seat, scared and shattered. I asked why he’d done it, he didn’t answer, and I thought that would be the end of it. But instead he drove off again, taking us further and further away from my home.

“I started frantically trying to open the car door or beep the horn to get someone’s attention, but Steve kept fighting me off. Eventually, he pulled in down another dirt track, stopped the car, overpowered me and raped me again in the front seat.”

The 32-year-old managed to escape from the car and ran into the woods, but Steve caught up with her.

She said: “He dragged me back to the car, pushed me to the ground and said, “Lie back, deal with it, and it will be over and done with soon.”

When she eventually got home, her mum took one look at her bruises and called the police.

A trial followed one year later and Steve was eventually convicted and handed a six-year sentence – he served four-and-a-half years in jail.

When it was time for his release, Ms Riggs’ victim liaison officer told her about restorative justice - a process which allows victims to meet their offenders in a controlled environment and tell them the real impact of their crime.

She said: “I knew I wanted to regain some of the power he had wielded for so long.

“On the morning of the meeting, I was nervous. I couldn’t stop shaking and was running over my questions on a loop in my head. But as soon as I stepped into the room and saw Steve waiting there, pathetic, shrivelled and weak, it all melted away.

“He kept his head down, but on the fleeting occasions when he did catch my eye, I could see him flinch at my words. When I’d finished talking, he simply said, ‘It’s been a million times worse than I ever thought for you. I’m so sorry.’”

The full feature appears in the September 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale now (Ruth Rose / Cosmopolitan)

Ms Riggs is now training to be a teacher and has met a new partner who is “warm, kind and supportive”.

She said: “Restorative justice is not for everyone, but for me, knowing that I’ve faced my rapist head-on and emerged on the other side stronger makes me feel that I can achieve anything.”

For more information about the restorative justice process go to rjc.org.uk