CATCHING her reflection in the mirror, Megan Smith sees the angry red line across her cheek and her heart sinks.
It’s not just a scar that will never fade. The disfigurement is a reminder of friendship destroyed forever by a sickening violent act.
Megan, 26, says: “My scar is a constant reminder of the savage attack on me by someone who had been my best friend.
“I thought of Ebony Jones as my sister, but she hurled a wine glass into my face on a night out during a row, causing it to shatter and cut me.
“I will never understand why she did this to me.
“I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD, I’ve taken antidepressants because I suffer panic attacks, and I cannot go anywhere on my own.
“But what pains me the most is when my own children stare at my disfigurement.
“I’m known as ‘Megan Scar’ in the town where I live.”
‘Completely inseparable’
Megan, from Caerphilly , South Wales, had met Ebony eight years previously through a mutual friend at a farm. They both had a passion for horses and loved riding.
She says: “We became best friends and were completely inseparable.
“Whatever Ebony knew, I had to know, and vice versa. Not a day went by that we didn’t talk.
“Ebony was a social butterfly. She loved going out partying on the weekends. I loved her passion for life. Nothing seemed to get her down.
“She wasn’t just my best friend; I thought of her as family. I thought our friendship would last forever.”
When the women had both become mothers within a couple of months of each other, their bond became ever stronger.
“Ebony had gone through her own troubles. She’d lost her dad during the pandemic, and her relationship with her baby’s father had broken up,” says Megan, a support worker.
“And she was the first person I called when I realised my marriage was over.
When I told Ebony I’d made some new friends, she seemed very irritated and asked me why I needed to hang around with these women because she didn’t like them.
Megan Thomas
“Going through my divorce was very difficult, but being around Ebony, I started to feel more confident and like I was becoming my old self again.”
Newly single, she was delighted when she made some new friends.
Meghan says: “When I told Ebony I’d made some new friends, she seemed very irritated and asked me why I needed to hang around with these women because she didn’t like them.
“I was shocked. I wondered if she might be jealous, but I told myself she couldn’t be. Our friendship was too special.”
Then, in January 2023, Ebony, who worked in a nursery, phoned Megan, sounding extremely angry.
Megan recalls: “She asked me for some pedigree papers for a French bulldog she’d bought off my ex before we split.
“I told her I didn’t know anything about them and she’d have to speak to him.”
She was even more confused when a friend told her there were rumours that Ebony had already been talking to Megan’s ex.
“It shook me to the core. I didn’t want to believe it,” Megan says.
“Ebony had been so encouraging for me to leave him. Was it because she wanted him? I had no proof, and I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“I did broach the subject with her, but she denied it and said it wasn’t true.
“But there was an odd atmosphere between us after that. I decided it would be best for us to have some space from each other.”
I could feel an odd, cold sensation as it dug into my skin. I felt the broken glass being pushed into my face again and again.
Megan Thomas
Two weeks later, on 4 February 2023, Megan was out with some friends in a local snooker club, The Emporium in Bargoed, Wales .
She says: “I spotted Ebony. I didn’t want any confrontation or argument, so I avoided her.
“I was standing at the packed bar with a friend and ordered a vodka and cranberry juice.
“Then I felt a very ominous presence standing right behind me. I turned round and was met with a flash of blonde hair. It was Ebony.
“She began shouting abuse at me about the dog she’d bought from my ex. She was like a woman possessed. I asked her to leave me alone.”
Shocking attack
But the next moment, Megan saw a hand holding a glass coming straight towards her face.
She says: “I remember a sharp edge hitting my cheek.
“I could feel an odd, cold sensation as it dug into my skin. I felt the broken glass being pushed into my face again and again.”
Megan recalls onlookers screaming and looking at her in horror while Ebony fled the scene.
“I staggered by the bar. I could see my reflection in the mirror opposite me,” Megan says.
“It was like a scene from a horror movie. My cheek was gaping open and pouring with bright red blood.
“Everyone was looking at me. Some people were crying. Some people look terrified.”
Staff at the venue quickly called the police and paramedics, and Megan was rushed to hospital.
She says: “In the emergency room, a surgeon looked at my injuries and told me I was extremely lucky I had not lost an eye.
“But he said it was likely I would be scarred for life. I needed 41 stitches to sew my face back up.”
When Megan returned home, her own two small children were terrified.
She says: “The youngest cried when they saw me and said: ‘How long will your face be like that Mummy?’”
“All I could do was be honest with them and say I didn’t know. I just fought back the tears, not wanting them to see me cry.”
Ebony had fled the scene after the savage attack, but police caught up with her and arrested her the next day.
She had told police she hadn’t wanted to hurt Megan but the bar had CCTV had captured the whole sorry episode.
“I was terrified to leave the house after the attack,” Megan says. “I installed a full security system on my house with cameras on every corner.
“But I heard that Ebony was out on the town a week later. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world.
“Her actions had left me with countless hospital appointments. I had to have a CT scan to check for brain damage.
“I’d get whispers and stares everywhere I went. Everyone in town now knew me as ‘Megan Scar’.
Justice done
In April 2025, Ebony Jones, 26, from Caerphilly, appeared at Newport Crown Court, charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
It was meant to be a three-day trial, but Ebony changed her plea to guilty at the last minute.
The court heard how she had hit Megan four times with a half-pint glass on a busy Saturday night and that the brutal attack had scarred Megan for life.
She was given 30 months in jail and a 10-year restraining order.
“It felt so strange being so close to her in that courtroom,” Megan says. “We were divided by a piece of glass and our friendship destroyed.”
Megan has been diagnosed with PTSD and takes antidepressants and beta blockers because of her panic attacks. She no longer goes anywhere on her own.
“Thankfully, I have a new partner, Liam, and he is wonderful. He sees me, not my scar,” says Megan.
“But I hate how my kids stare at my disfigurement. I’d go under the knife for a skin graft, but it might only make it worse.
“I will never understand why Ebony did what she did. She ruined my life over a dog. It just doesn’t make any sense.
“I have to think there was more to it. Maybe she was jealous of me?
“She has never once said sorry for what she did. I thought I’d found a best friend, but behind that smile was a monster.”
