While Barbadian Police Officer Dennis Archer waits to hear if he has a future in the Bermuda Police Force, his victim is still in physical pain from the punch he landed in her eye.

Jacqueline Jackson recalls the night when Archer her former boyfriend threw the one punch which has left her two years later struggling to see clearly out of her left eye.

?The force of the punch threw me against the wall,? she said. ?At that point I was still in shock, when I looked in the mirror I couldn?t see my eye, my cheekbone was pushed all the way back. I was just standing there, I couldn?t get over that he had just hit me that hard.?

Last week sentencing was adjourned in the case after Archer?s lawyer Mark Pettingill suggested Ms Jackson had provoked him and caused him to act irrationally and told the court that he was an ?upstanding individual?.

This week Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo denied the request for an absolute discharge and fined Archer $1,200 for the offence of causing bodily harm to his ex-girlfriend in July 2003, telling the court Archer had committed a very serious offence and the discharge would be entirely inappropriate.

Ms Jackson said justice had been served by the verdict but the pain of the incident will be with her forever.

The young accountant?s violent encounter with Archer?s fists came at her ?out of the blue? and left her reeling in shock and agony.

?He had no remorse for what he did,? she said. ?He called me two days after the incident and I asked him didn?t you have any remorse for what you did, you punched me, he said for what, he literally asked me for what.?

Ms Jackson said she did not want Archer to lose his job with the Police Service but to be held accountable for what he did.

With her bruised and battered face appearing on the front of yesterday?s paper, Ms Jackson said she swallowed her embarrassment over the ordeal to encourage other women in the community to protect themselves from domestic violence.

She encourages women to report all incidences of domestic violence.

?Sometimes women take these things, they happen out of the blue and you think maybe it?s a one-off thing, you don?t report it because of the embarrassment and the public scrutiny of the ordeal. This one off thing happened to me twice before I reported it,? she said.

She said Archer has accused her of trying to stay in contact with him by telephone ? a claim which she said is absolutely false considering the shock and pain of his punch.

She also said there are 54 text messages saved in her cellular phone demonstrating how Archer was the one who wanted to keep in contact.

Eye specialists said the injury would take time to heal and Ms Jackson is optimistic her vision will return to normal however, she is just about to exchange the eye glasses she is now wearing for a stronger pair.

?The pain comes and goes, black spots, a sheet comes over my eye and at times it goes blank particularly when I am stressed out,? she said. ?It feels like something is pushing it forward. I look down at my watch and it is blurry.?

Socially, Ms Jackson said she tries to stay positive and go out with her friends but she does not enjoy herself as much as she used to and she often runs into acquaintances who want to discuss the incident.

?People say couldn?t you two work it out so you didn?t have to go to court, it seems as if people don?t really know him or understand the extent of the injury I suffered.

?Someone said it?s too bad it had to go this far, but people don?t understand that this wasn?t a tap, this wasn?t a tussle, when I told the person what happened they agreed with what I was doing.?

Yesterday afternoon, Ms Jackson said she was also shocked at the words of another woman.

?A friend of mine heard a woman who?s husband is a Police Officer say I got what I deserved,? she said. ?It?s shocking to think that someone could go around saying that.?

At this point it is too risky to consider developing a romantic relationship in the near future.

?I don?t try, I actually don?t give anyone a chance. I spend my time in the gym, for me this is my real release, or I go for nice long walks.?

All to often Ms Jackson said outsiders do not consider these offences as seriously as they should be considered.

?No one sees the fact that he almost blinded me and he could have killed me,? she said. ?All they see is that I took him to court.

?I?ve heard all sort of stories today I?ve even heard that I had broken into his house and beat him and another story is that I was stalking him before I beat him.?

She also questioned how the legal system would even consider an absolute discharge particularly since her ex-boyfriend is a Police Officer and is supposed to protect people in the community from this kind of abuse.

?His lawyer said this was one punch without anger. According to his lawyer its okay if you are not beating her or kicking her out of anger.

?It?s OK to have her on the ground beating the life out of her, that was his closing statement. I say this was one punch which could have killed me.

?This man is a Police Officer, he is supposed to uphold the law at all times, if he was given an absolute discharge men would go about thinking they could do this to women and get away with it.?