On June 8, 2016, Jamar Bernard Woody, 35, savagely attacked his then three-month-pregnant, Shatory Irving, 26, in a Roanoke, Virginia convenience store. He was captured on CCTV footage, punching and beating her, knocking her down to the floor. Irving was already walking on crutches due to a broken ankle.
Woody beat Irving so badly, doctors said her skull was exposed by an inch-long split in her forehead. Her child was born premature but healthy last year. The cashier came to her rescue and asked Woody to leave.
The defense attorney, Melvin Hill tells the Roanoke Times, that Irving violated a protective order he’d taken out against her in 2014 and broke windows during disagreement. “You have to understand, it is a volatile, toxic relationship.”
Woody begged a judge not to force him to “watch my sons grow up through pictures.”
The jury has recommended Woody, who was convicted of malicious wounding, spend eight years in jail, two years more than the maximum.
Irving has supported her man the entire time.
