Henbury man jailed for nine years following brutal attack on woman

A 41-year-old man has been jailed for nine years after brutally assaulting a woman in Bristol.

Rocky Milano, of Standfast Road in Henbury, was found guilty yesterday (Wednesday 12 July) of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to serve nine years in jail for his crimes.

The court heard how, overnight on the Wednesday 21 to Thursday 22 December last year, Milano became violent and began threatening and hitting the victim, in her 30s.

His violence escalated and he started stamping, strangling, stabbing and hitting her repeatedly before causing burn injuries.

The victim, who asked not to be named, sustained significant injuries to her liver, a number of fractures in her sternum, ribs and spine, facial burns, and significant bruising to her face, head and body, and stab wounds to her leg. He also shaved her head.

When Milano fell asleep, the victim fled the address and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

In a statement, the victim said: “What Rocky did to me has affected me hugely. I was devastated not to be able to spend Christmas and New Year with my family, instead being in hospital.

“I have been left in agony due to the pain in my ribs, abdomen and arms. Some of my injuries will take a long time to get better and I am worried about having scars.

“The way he tortured me has completely traumatised me to the point I have flashbacks. At night, I can barely sleep and have nightmares about what happened and I cannot leave the house on my own and need to have someone with me to feel safe.”

Detective Inspector Will Thorpe said: “Milano subjected his victim to hours of serious and prolonged attacks which are comparable to torture.

“I commend the strength of the victim for coming forward after such a horrific attack. Milano refused to own up to his brutal behaviour and took the case to trial before he was found guilty by a jury. I only hope that this sentence acts as some justice for what she went through.

“Violence of this nature is completely unacceptable and disgraceful. We are fully committed to tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) and are already taking wide-ranging action to improve our response and the outcomes for victims.

“We encourage anyone who has been a victim of violence to report it to us.”

Milano was also tried for blackmail allegations, which jurors deemed he was not guilty of.

Speaking at the sentencing, Judge Peter Blair commended the ‘exceptionally good job’ of the investigating officers.

Directly to Milano, he said: “This was a persistent attack on this woman. An additional aggravating feature that cannot be overlooked was the gratuitous degradation of the victim by the removal of her hair. You treated her as less than human.”