Friends of an Australian woman who bit her ex-husband's tongue off are desperately trying to save her from three months in an Icelandic prison.
Nara Walker, 28, was arrested in Reykjavík in November 2017 after she and her husband got into an argument at their apartment while another couple was there.
She claims he pinned her down and forcibly stuck his tongue into her mouth. In response, she bit off the end of it.
"I was crying and he kept yelling that I was his and calling me insults," she told news.com.au.
"I was still finding it difficult to breathe and he forced his tongue into my mouth. I reacted without thought or intent."
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A fight then broke out between her, her husband and the woman from the other couple in which Walker suffered a fractured rib, sprained vertebra and bruising. She also pulled the other woman's hair and bit her fingers.
Walker's husband's tongue was able to be reattached, but he says it is considerably shorter than it was and has left him with a permanent speech impediment.
The Sunshine Coast artist claims her husband had been physically and emotionally abusive throughout their marriage. She says he would give her a monthly allowance and withhold money to punish her, and also claims he raped and assaulted her.
Walker lodged a domestic violence complaint against him when she was arrested, but Iceland police have not laid any charges against him.
That's despite the court seeing Facebook messages in which her husband admitted hitting her and secretly spiking her tea with LSD.
Walker was charged with assault and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, including nine months as a suspended sentence. Her passport was confiscated and she has not been allowed to leave Iceland.
She was also ordered to pay her husband AUD$15,000 (NZ$15,600) in damages.
When she took her case to the appeals court, her sentence was increased to 18 months as the court ruled the tongue bite could not be classed as self-defence based on the evidence at hand.
In February 2019 the Supreme Court of Iceland rejected Walker's appeal. She is now facing the prospect of having to serve her three-month sentence in a maximum security prison.
Walker told The Reykjavík Grapevine she is "disappointed and disheartened" by the ruling.
"I truly believed in the Icelandic justice system as Iceland is on the forefront for women's rights and equality," she said. "I have not been recognised as a victim of abuse and that displaces my working towards healing from the years of abuse."
Her friends have created a petition addressed to the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, asking that he grant Walker a pardon from her prison sentence and all criminal charges.
"We raise this case due to the fact that Common Law Principles of Self Defence have been overlooked by the Judicial System," the petition reads. "We ask you to allow this young woman to return safely to her home country and family."
The petition claims the Icelandic courts have ignored Walker's evidence of her husband's abuse.
"This includes medical reports, witness statements, photographic and written evidence and, most alarmingly, statements under oath admitting to such actions by the abuser himself. The abuser now walks free, living his life safely and freely, while a young woman faces imprisonment in a foreign country amongst the nation's most vile criminals."
A GoFundMe campaign has so far raised more than AUD$3000 (NZ$3100) to go towards Walker's substantial court fees.
Newshub.
