A model has been left with horrific scarring after her best friend pushed her through a glass window - as the victim celebrated landing her first professional contract.
Lasha Horton was lucky to be alive after broken glass sliced her face almost from ear-to-ear, only narrowly missing her eyes.
But the pretty 26-year-old has been left with a permanent reminder of the attack - a huge gash across her cheeks, nose and brow.
Not only did the assault nearly rob her of her sight, she feared it had robbed her of her £15,000 a year modelling career.
Lasha had thrown a party at her home for ten of her friends, to celebrate signing a modelling contract with top London agency Demus Castings in October 2012.
But during the evening, her friend of five years, Genavese Justin, became aggressive and began shouting at another guest.
She was asked to leave but on her way out, Justin struck out and grabbed Lasha's hair before smashing her head through glass doors.
Lasha was bleeding on the floor as her attacker fled, leaving other horrified guests to call an ambulance.
She would spend the next two days in hospital following the brutal attack, as plastic surgeons battled desperately to repair a jagged scar running from her left ear to the corner of her right eye.
'If the glass had hit me elsewhere in my face I could have lost my sight,' said Lasha, who was determined not to let the experience stop her following her dream to model.
'My modelling dreams were shattered the second my best friend put my face through that window,' she added.
'The attack ruined my life but I'm determined not to let her ruin my future.
'ANo s it is I have arranged to see plastic surgeons and they have told me that because I am mixed race it will be difficult for the scar to be erased completely so I am scarred for life.
'It's really upsetting because I've done a lot of charity work as a model and now I can no longer do that.
'I also had shoots lined up which I couldn't fulfil.'
Justin, then 24, was later spared jail after admitted wounding as she was handed a 14-month suspended prison sentence in May 2013 for the sake of her daughter.
Incredibly, despite suffering disfiguring scars, Lasha has forgiven the friend who ruined her life.
Lasha said: 'I'll never know why she did it but I've forgiven her.
'I'm much stronger now, and I'm determined to not let my scars ruin my life.
'My scars are beautiful, and if I can inspire one other woman to have confidence in herself, I'll be happy.'
Lasha was left with two five-inch scars across her face, and the glass was less than half an inch away from cutting her eyeball.
She needed 30 stitches to sew up her inch-deep wound, and medics told her that if the glass had penetrated just half an inch higher it would have punctured a vital artery and she would have died.
Traumatised Lasha, originally from Nottingham, struggled to come to terms with the attack and was prescribed antidepressants in April 2013.
She said: 'It took a while, but now I think I'm over it all.
'When Genavese smashed my head through that glass I thought I was going to die.
'Now, I'm trying to show that victims of violent crime shouldn't be made to hide away.
Daily Mail
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