A former Tyrone woman testified Monday that she was afraid her estranged boyfriend was going to kill her when he attacked her in front of their two young children in September of last year.

The woman, Sandy Zimmerman, was testifying during the trial against Jeffery Webb, who is accused of two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, battery, simple battery, cruelty to children in the first degree and two counts of aggravated stalking.

Zimmerman said Webb was screaming at her when the altercation began, even as she took their two children to bed and encouraged them to pretend they were asleep. At one point during the incident in the family’s Tyrone home, Zimmerman said Webb slammed her head against the headboard of the bed.
Zimmerman said Webb also struck their then 6-year-old son several times with an inflatable toy during the incident, accusing him of loving their mother and not him.

Zimmerman testified that at one point she questioned whether she was going to survive the night and she then spoke to her son.

She testified that she told him: “If anything ever happens to mommy, pleas tell the truth. Please tell what happened.”

Zimmerman said that she once ran outside of the house screaming for help, and Webb caught up to her, covering her mouth to quiet her and dragged her back into the home, where he forced her and the kids to remain overnight in a bedroom.

Webb’s attorney, Walker Chandler, told the jury in his opening statement that the evidence will show all the allegations against his client will be tied to something Zimmerman said. But one of Zimmerman’s friends testified that she witnessed Webb shove Zimmerman during a disagreement the couple had at a circus they had taken their kids to at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

That friend, Shelly Goins, told the jury that after the circus she was so worried for Zimmerman’s safety that she slipped her a cell phone secretly in case anything happened.

The prosecution also alleges that Webb violated a temporary protective order by calling Zimmerman at her place of work, The Citizen Newspapers, and also by calling her from jail on another occasion in what was apparently a three-way call patched through to her residence.

The protective order required Webb to refrain from contacting Zimmerman or the children, said Assistant District Attorney Lura Landis. Zimmerman said she was assisted in seeking the protective order by staff from Promise Place, a local organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence.

The prosecution’s testimony is expected to resume Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.

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