A Henry County Superior Court judge sentenced a Sandy Springs man Thursday to 20 years in prison and 20 years probation for deliberately dousing his ex-girlfriend with industrial-strength drain cleaner.
Andrew Fordham, 44, was convicted last week on one count of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated battery against Christy Sims, a 44-year-old divorced mother of two who is permanently scarred on her face, arms and chest from the April 28, 2013 incident. The trial centered around whether or not Fordham intentionally doused Sims with an industrial-strength drain opener called Clean Shot in April 2013. Fordham said it was an accident.
Chief Judge Arch McGarity heard emotional testimony from Fordham, his two sons and mother as well as Sims before he handed down the sentence. His sons told the court how Fordham had taken on the role of both parents after their mother died seven years ago. Fordham broke down as his mother spoke, bending over the podium.
He turned to face Sims as he spoke: “I’m so sorry. For six years you were my best friend. I would have never done this to you intentionally. This was an accident. I’m sorry for the pain you’ve been through.”
Sims was unconvinced.
“He did this on purpose. He planned this,” she said before the sentencing.
Thursday’s sentencing was the culmination of two years of intense legal, physical and emotional ordeal for Sims who now devotes her time to domestic violence issues.
“I live in a skin that is not my own,” the McDonough woman told the courtroom Thursday. “I will never have the face God gave me. I went from being an attractive woman to a peculiar-looking woman.”
Sims went on to tell the court how her life and that of her family’s has irrevocably changed. She is in counseling and unable to attend her children’s school events because she didn’t want to embarrass them. When she’s in the grocery store people don’t recognize her. Despite having already had dozens of surgeries and mounting medical bills, her physical ordeal is not over.
“I’ll probably have surgeries for the next 10 years,” she said.
When asked how she felt about the sentence, Sims replied “I don’t think any amount of time will make up for the time he took away from me and my family. I don’t hate him but I don’t forgive him yet.”
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