The 19-year-old needed reconstruction surgery on his face and received 50 stitches

Ella Dowling, 19, boarded a bus in Cheltenham, England, on November 18, 2023 with her friends. She reports that 53-year-old Darren Taylor began making lewd comments about her appearance. When the bus reached the last stop, Taylor attacked Ella, biting her mouth and nose. The injury required 50 stitches. The information comes from a report in the British newspaper The Telegraph.

“I couldn’t scream because he had my lip in his mouth, it was disgusting,” she said. “He was strange and kept asking ‘Are you girls going out?’. When we told him to leave us alone, he started calling us ‘white trash’ and saying he was a ‘gangster’. The pain was horrible and I I could feel his whole body shaking – when I looked at my clothes afterwards, they were covered in blood,” the university student told the newspaper.

Ella needed emergency surgery. In addition to the wound to his nose, the right side of his lip was also torn. Taylor was arrested and appeared at Gloucester Crown Court in March 2024, where he admitted guilt to intentional grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison on July 18 and given a lifetime restraining order.

Ella says she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror for months after the attack. “The pain I felt when he sank his teeth into my face is something that will stay with me forever,” she said. “He looked like a dog with a toy, shaking his head from side to side. I put my hands on the back of his head because I knew that if I didn’t do that, he would completely rip my lip and nose off.”

The young woman says she was unable to recognize her own image after the attack and has not ridden a bus since then due to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. “If I leave the house, I have to be on the phone with my mom or a friend because I’m terrified of being attacked again.”

Ella also reports that she still has difficulty eating and drinking on the right side of her face. The student says she smiles and speaks differently, “something I will have to learn to live with for the rest of my life.” Since the attack, Ella has undergone a reconstructive procedure, but will be physically scarred forever.

“I started university again this year and I hope I can continue. I want to go back to being the happy and outgoing person I was, but it will take time,” he said.