A courageous Melissa Dohme appeared in court as her ex-boyfriend Robert Burton, the man who stabbed her 32 times, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. INSIDE EDITION reports.
It is a profile of courage as a young woman relives how she was stabbed 32 times and left for dead. Twenty-one-year-old Melissa Dohme confronted the ex-boyfriend who attacked her in court by counting each savage stab wound.
Melissa Dohme spoke in court, "Then came stab 4, 5, and 6. Blood was everywhere. I was completely covered and soaking wet, 11, 12, and 13. And then the final stab wound, number 32."
He was enraged because she'd left him to attend college.
Dohme begged him to stop, screaming for her life, "I began to scream as loud as I could."
A terrified witness called 911: "This man just stabbed a woman to death in the street. Oh, my god! Oh, my god!"
Dohme lost almost all her blood on that horrific night in January, 2012. Her heart stopped four times, and doctors believed she'd never walk or talk again. But she documented her miraculous one-and-a-half year recovery in a series of photographs.
INSIDE EDITION was there when Melissa Dohme attended her attacker's sentencing hearing in Clearwater, Florida.
Dohme continued, "I've been waiting for this day for a long time. It's been 635 days to be exact."
By her side was the love of her life, Cameron Hill. He's a firefighter who responded to the stabbing and was the only one who believed she'd live.
She sat in court just a few feet from her attacker, Robert Burton. When it was time for Dohme to speak, believe it or not, she had this to say to him, "The only thing I came here to directly tell Robert Burton is that I forgive him."
Burton choked back tears saying he was sorry he stabbed Dohme 32 times. He said, "I can't even imagine what I put her through and I'll have to live with that forever."
But the judge wasn't buying it and sentenced him to life in prison without parole, so he'll never be able to hurt this beautiful, brave woman again.
Dohme concluded, "I feel so relieved and happy that justice has finally been served."
