Facebook lifeline for mother crying abuse

THE power of social media helped a woman escape alleged abuse from her boyfriend at the weekend.

A cry for help after the woman had locked herself in a toilet in an attempt to protect herself from her boyfriend was answered by Facebook users, and police arrived to remove the man from the house.

The Mitchells Plain woman, whose identity is known to the Cape Times but who asked for it to be withheld for her safety, said she had returned home from work on Saturday evening when her boyfriend, whose name is not known, demanded to know why their home was not clean and their children not fed.

“He started pointing his finger in my face and said he was going to kill me,” she said yesterday of the ordeal she had to relive on Women’s Day.

This was often how their violent fights broke out, sometimes landing her in hospital, she said.

“My heart started going, and I even had a headache from my head being bashed around by him. I grabbed my bag and locked myself in the toilet. I didn’t want to call anyone because he would hear me.”

She then posted her address on Facebook and asked for help. In seconds, as many as 700 responses flooded the post, many alerting police.

This week, she intends to take out a restraining order against the man.

“I’ve made two charges against him in the past, but pulled them back. The first time the matter landed up in court. He promised to go for anger management, clearly it was just to shut me up. It has been going on for about two years,” she said.

“I thought people would turn a blind eye. I’m very thankful (for) what they did. (I’m) sure he would have bashed the door down.”

Police spokesperson Tembinkosi Kinana said because no official complaint had been lodged by the woman, police could not provide details.

Facebook user Mariam Benn posted that the woman had united a community of females to stand as one to uplift and support each other.