The victim of an alleged Alabama hate crime is dismissing claims that the attack was somehow motivated by her sexuality.
Mallory Owens, 23, told CBS affiliate WKRG that the alleged Nov. 22 attack was "just a bad, bad night."
Though her family has said she was beaten by her girlfriend's brother Travis Hawkins Jr. because of her sexuality, Owens noted, "A lot of things have happened between us, but it doesn't make me hate her brother. I don't hate her family at all, or anybody for that matter."
Owens, who was reportedly attending Thanksgiving dinner at the family home of girlfriend Ally Hawkins (Travis' sister) at the time of the attack, suffered multiple skull fractures and crushed bones, and had metal plates put under her eyes because of her injuries, according to earlier reports.
She has since been released from the hospital and is said to be recovering at the Hawkins family home, where the attack took place.
Owens' sister and mother were among those to allege that 18-year-old Hawkins had attacked Mallory because of her sexuality. "I want him behind bars for life," Avery Godwin (Owens' sister) told WKRG. "He doesn't need to be out, because if he does he could do this to someone else or he'll finish it off with my sister."
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