Introducing This Is Not Right: A Year-Long Campaign Against Violence Against Women
The police took immediate action after a traumatic experience, and I was taken to a rape clinic where I was interviewed. My abuser denied the charges until the trial, where he was eventually convicted of kidnap, attempted murder, and rape. However, the rape charge was dropped when he took a plea deal admitting to the other charges. In my victim statement, I shared the full extent of the abuse I endured, and I thought my nightmare was over.
But my relief was short-lived. After serving only six years in prison, my abuser was released, causing me significant distress and anxiety. I received a phone call the day before his release, which did not give me sufficient time to prepare. This experience has left me with a lifetime of anxiety, and I'm still reeling from the trauma.
My concern is that the people making decisions about early release may not fully understand what it feels like for a survivor to know that the person who abused them could be walking free again. A release date can bring back fear, anxiety, and trauma that survivors have spent months or years trying to overcome.
Statistics highlight the severity of this issue: one in four women experience domestic abuse, and it takes an average of seven attempts for a woman to leave for good. Police record a domestic abuse every 40 seconds, and less than 20% of women who experience partner abuse report it to the police. Disabled women are twice as likely to experience domestic abuse, and 84% of domestic abuse victims are women, with 93% of defendants being male.
The comments made by senior politicians have only reinforced why this conversation needs to be handled with greater sensitivity. This is not a political game or a subject for casual jokes. People's lives should matter more than some joke or quip.
I've lost over half of my life to being abused in every kind of way. Women are dying every week: they are being murdered, and taking their own lives as a result of domestic abuse, too. Children are still going into care. I'm terrified now that my ex is out of prison, and I'm not alone in my fear.
No one should have to live like this, and no one, especially politicians, should be laughing about the trauma that survivors like me are going through because of them. We deserve better, and our stories deserve to be heard.
