'I didn't realise I had been stabbed', says Nye

Jane Nye

The first Jane Nye knew that she had been stabbed was when she saw blood pouring down the front of her shirt.

Until then Miss Nye, the victim of a vicious knife attack that killed her British boyfriend David Mitchell, thought she was just being repeatedly punched by her attacker who had grabbed her and bludgeoned her to the ground.

"I felt I was being punched and started to scream for David. I didn't realise I had been stabbed. I thought I had been punched ... but I was covered with blood," she said.

"People were saying, 'your face, your throat'. They were pretty deep cuts. This is completely unbelievable. I remember shouting 'this cannot be happening to me or to Dave'."

Miss Nye, a journalist formerly of Wellington, was staying with Mr Mitchell in an apartment behind his Ginger Monkey bar, in Phnom Penh, when burglars broke in on Wednesday morning (NZ time).

In the ensuing confrontation, Ms Nye suffered extensive wounds.

Mr Mitchell died after being stabbed five times in the chest.

Miss Nye was rushed to hospital in Bangkok where she underwent emergency surgery to repair wounds to her face and neck.

Tong Chen, an 18-year-old street kid, was arrested after being foundin a city park cleaning blood offa knife.

Miss Nye is the editor of Cambodian Scene magazine and had been living in Phnom Penh for 18 months with her mother who had been doing charity work.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the attack, Miss Nye - who turns 29 today - told the Herald on Sunday from her hospital bed that she felt very lucky to have survived the attack.

"The throat wound narrowlymissed my trachea and oesophagus and didn't damage any nerves. I was very, very lucky," she said.

"The plastic surgeon thinks there will be some scarring but right now it is too early to say."

She said she felt nothing towards the youth who had been arrested.

"I couldn't care less about him. There are so many poor, poor people who have nothing in Cambodia and Phnom Penh and to them foreigners have everything," she said.

Miss Nye said on the evening of the attack she was at Mr Mitchell's house "having a quiet evening".

Just before midnight she had gone outside to use the bathroom when she said she was grabbed from behind.

Mr Mitchell heard her screams and confronted the attacker. A tussle between the pair followed.

"I could see him struggle with the attacker and then he was lying in the doorway."

Miss Nye was not aware she had been stabbed until she saw blood streaming down from her face. David, she said, was lying very still.

"I had a feeling he was dead."

Miss Nye and Mr Mitchell had only been a couple for two-and-a-half months. She said they had a good relationship, but were still getting to know each other.

"You know when you are just starting to get to know someone - who they really are? I was getting to that point.

"Now I don't have that opportunity and that is hard."

She expected to be released from hospital on Wednesday and then would return to Phnom Penh - and back to work.

"You cannot run around being scared all the time. I am going back to a city that I love," she said.

"I now understand about the culture and I also understand that something like this could happen.

"Phnom Penh has a dusty beauty and it is inspiring to live there."

She said she hoped to celebrate her birthday today with a bottle of champagne and a cigarette.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY