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| Updated: 2/21/2012 2:22 pm |
Published: 2/06/2012 3:47 pm |
FOX16’s Kevin Kelly sat down with a victim who has recently managed to escape her abuser. For her safety, we are unable to identify her by name or show her face. The following are excerpts from her interview with Kevin, where she shares her story.
Isolation
"There's a lot of not wanting to go out, not wanting to be engaged with friends, job opportunities coming along and real discouragement to take them.”
‘Did it progress from that point?”
“Absolutely, absolutely.Our home was set up so that there were bars on the windows, bars on the doors, bars on every entryway that you wanted in.”
“You were a prisoner?”
“I was a prisoner... in a house. There's nothing you can do, so now you're in it, and how do you get out of it?”
Physical Abuse
“The physical abuse started about five years into the marriage. It starts with just some shaking and some hand bruises.”
The Violence Grows
“The fights were escalating, just over little things. Such an unpleasant and unhappy environment.”
“He literally put your head through a wall?”
“Yeah, he put my head through a wall.”
“You thought you would die?”
“I did. I absolutely did. I absolutely thought that death was inevitable for the end of the year.”
Shame and Embarassment
“How do you tell people that your husband is biting you and kicking you and shoving your head through pictures and walls and essentially raping you when you don't want to have sex with him. I mean how do you tell somebody that?”
The Dangers of Leaving
“You get a lot of.. ‘if you leave, you know, I'm going to find you and kill you anyway.’”
“Did you believe him?”
“Absolutely, absolutely.”
“There's no doubt in your mind?”
“No doubt in my mind. If I left, six months before I did... there's no doubt in my mind that he would have taken actions against me and other people that would have been devastating.”
The Escape
“When I came outside, he was waiting on me - but I had a friend waiting on me.
I got into the vehicle with her... he followed us aggressively, tried to hit her and we made it down to the police station in time and within the next day, I went and filed for a protective order.”
A Scary Future
“Yet you still fear for your life?”
“Absolutely. So I'm just hoping that time is removing me as his object of obsession.”
“Do you think that will happen?”
“I'm praying that it happens.”
Support Hotlines
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501-801-2700
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1-877-432-5368
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1-866-331-9474
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