Louise suffered extreme domestic abuse at the hands of her husband for more than four years including physical violence, racist abuse, drugging and coercion. After coming close to taking her own life she escaped the marriage, and lived in a refuge for 18 months. Louise is now in recovery and wants to raise awareness about how the lack of social housing for domestic abuse victims can fuel the cycle of abuse, making it incredibly difficult for women to escape. She also feels let down by the CPS who made the decision not to charge her husband, despite compelling evidence. She is full of praise for how Victim Support helped her.
I never thought I would be a victim of domestic abuse, I thought it would never happen to me. Unfortunately, it can happen to anyone. My message to people is – leave before you get trapped in. He racially abused me. Now I get brain fog, I suffer from a lot things, I’ve been through a lot and I do not wish for anyone to go through all of this. I had a lot of help from Victim Support. At one time I was going to end my life because it was too much for me to take. Victim Support was there right through.