‘I spent my whole life thinking I was to blame’

Sherynne Smith, from Newcastle, NSW, has had a gun held to her head, a knife to her throat and her ribs and wrist broken by former partners. Crippled from a life of domestic abuse, she even came close to taking her own life.

Today, back from the brink, the fearless mum, 55, is determined to help other victims break free. After suffering abuse at the hands of her mother as a child, Sherynne got married at 20 and had two sons. But after that marriage broke down, she became a victim in a string of violent relationships.

“I met a man and he seemed lovely. But after a few months he started to hit me. He broke my ribs, slamming me against a wall. He raped me, broke my wrist and terrorised my boys,” says Sherynne.

“He held a shotgun to my head and told me if I tried to leave, he’d kill me. I believed him.”

After four years of torture, Sherynne finally worked up the courage to flee and start a new life with her sons. But after marrying again at 50, she once again found herself subjected to domestic violence. She felt trapped once more, but eventually fled to a local domestic violence and homelessness service nearby, where she had a stark realisation.

“I didn’t realise what had happened to me was abuse – I’d seen this behaviour all my life. I didn’t even know what a healthy relationship was,” she says.

Despite her husband locking her out of her own bank account and trying to take her own life, Sherynne has now managed to look to the future and start afresh. Four years on, she’s finally starting to enjoy life again.

And her message to others on White Ribbon Day is simple – speak up!

“Perpetrators love our silence, so while we speak up and speak out, we’re not giving in to them,” she says.