Photo credit: KELO

A shocking story coming out of Lincoln County, South Dakota, where the victim of a savage animal can finally relax after a brutal criminal has been sentenced to prison.

The case began when 46-year-old Tony Ledbetter called emergency 911 dispatch to report that he has just violently assaulted a woman.

Once authorities arrived to the residence the female victim told them that not only was she pregnant, but that Ledbetter had savagely beaten her and assaulted her with a deadly weapon.

According to the victim, Ledbetter had originally demanded to see her at her apartment. She had agreed to meet with him before a friend came over to check out her new apartment.

Both the victim and Ledbetter had been arguing about their relationship when Ledbetter punched her in the face repeatedly and then slammed her head on the ground, police said. The victim also claimed that Ledbetter tried to stop her screaming by pushing on her throat with his forearm and stuffing a blanket inside of her mouth.

Soon she went Unconscious from the choking, and he then grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off one of her nipples.

She said she then awoke to see Ledbetter take the scissors and cut at her other breast, she said. She then began to fight back for her and her baby's life and was somehow able to escape the situation.

She claims she then rushed to the hospital, to verify that her unborn child was okay.

Ledbetter knew she wanted to nurse the child, she said, which is why he cut off her nipples in a rage to make her suffer.

During the statement to the courtroom, she spoke of controlling, obsessive behavior from Ledbetter. She said that despite her attempts to leave him he would not move out of her apartment when asked and constantly had to know where she was at all times, including driving by her work to check to see where she was.

“Because I was strong enough to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ I almost paid the ultimate price. I was nearly killed for what? Asking for my space?” She said in her statement to the court.

Judge Doug Hoffman, who oversaw the case, said he was absolutely sickened by Ledbetter's past arrests, involving breaking into women's homes, damaging their property, vandalizing their cars, and using their credit cards; a lifelong criminal.

Back in August, Ledbetter entered a plea of guilty to three counts of aggravated assault, for choking and strangling his ex-girlfriend and using scissors to cut her nipples.

Those counts would each carry a maximum of 15 years in a state penitentiary.

Ledbetter's attorneys tried to claim that he was remorseful for the attack and that he was seeking help from the jail's chaplain and anger management program to better his life.

Typical “He was a good boy, he didn't do nothing wrong,” type of defense, for a man who's been nothing but a monster the majority of his life.

Judge Hoffman wasn't buying it though, and went against the plea agreement of a 30-year cap and imposed the maximum 45 years in prison and ordered no contact with the victim and her child, saying he felt that Ledbetter deserved every inch of that sentence.

According to<a href="http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/ledbetter-gets-45-years-for-cutting-nipples-off-his-ex-girlfriend"> KELO </a>, the entire community is thrilled that this monster will be inside of a cage for what's likely to be the majority of his life.

There's a low a<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/woman-mutilated-with-scissors-2u258ppr"> GoFundMe </a>set up for the victim and her child.

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