Kentish Express Ashford & District
‘We cannot simply stand by as women’s lives continue to be lost to male violence’
On April 30, 2012, hairdresser Natalie Esack was brutally murdered in her Ashford high street salon on a Monday morning by her estranged husband.
Almost exactly 10 years later, another woman died in alarmingly similar circumstances, having been found dead alongside her husband in their tattoo parlour, the victim of a suspected ‘murder-suicide’.
While official conclusions have not been drawn from the tragic death of Ramona Stoia in Canterbury earlier this month, domestic abuse charities have highlighted the case’s similarities with the tragic death of Natalie, who was stabbed to death by estranged husband Ivan.
Both incidents involved the husbands of the victims. Both happened in broad daylight, in a place where the women should have been safe.
Both men were also known to police due to the shocking behaviour they showed towards their partners in the weeks and months leading up to their deaths.
Tracy Blackwell, director of strategic insights and partnerships at domestic abuse charity Refuge, said that the two incidents, while a decade apart, were signs of the “scale of intimate partner violence” in the UK.
She added: “Whether a few months or a decade has passed, their loss will still be felt deeply by their loved ones.
“Current or former partners are responsible for the deaths of two women a week in England and Wales. The scale of intimate partner violence in the UK must be taken seriously. We cannot simply stand by as women’s lives continue to be lost to male violence.”
Natalie Esack was aged 33 when she was brutally stabbed to death by her jealous husband.
Esack, a former Maidstone police detective, plunged a kitchen knife into Natalie up to 11 times as she desperately tried to escape into a basement, in plain view of her 17-year-old hairdressing assistant. He was found guilty of murder in January 2013 and ordered to serve a minimum 28 years in jail.
An independent review of the authorities’ handling of the domestic violence leading up to the murder flagged up a raft of concerns.
It said police could have arrested Esack for sending “malicious communications” to Natalie; they also didn’t act on Natalie’s report that her husband might harm himself, or that he had been carrying a knife when he went to her address in February.
There had been evidence of an increasing rate of domestic violence in the six months leading up to the fatal attack, the report revealed.
It said that by the month before the fatal stabbing at Esack Hair and Beauty in Ashford High Street, “there were a number of risk factors in (Esack’s) circumstances and behaviour”, the report reveals.
“He took cocaine and drank heavily, but there is no evidence that he was dependent on these substances. He described himself as depressed and stressed,” it added.
Crucially, it was also alleged by a friend that a month before her death, Esack had strangled his wife until she lost consciousness.
However, all that information was not collated, with different police and health workers only having a partial picture of the vital months leading up to the terrifying attack on Natalie.
A counsellor, it was revealed, knew of the strangulation, but accepted Esack’s assurance he had notified police of the assault.
The report added: “Police investigations also revealed that several friends and family members had information about the escalating domestic abuse [Natalie] suffered over many years, but no-one had the full picture. Once [Esack] realised that their marriage
was over, he exerted his control over her for a final time by killing her.”
It was alleged that with all of the information collated, the Domestic Abuse Stalking and Harassment risk assessment in March of that year would have been graded high risk, and a multi-agency conference would have been held to devise a safety plan for Natalie.
An internal investigation by police is ongoing into the circumstances around Ms Stoia’s death, after it emerged that her husband Catalin Micu was on police bail after being interviewed over allegations he had raped his wife multiple times.
In February, mum-of-one Ramona secured a non-molestation order - a court injunction restricting or banning contact - against Micu.
It is thought the couple, who share a young son, continued to live together but Micu was banned from “harassing or pestering” her.
But on March 26, he was arrested on suspicion of having breached this order and of seriously sexually assaulting his wife.
Following his arrest, Micu was placed on police bail but still allowed to work alongside Ramona at GothInk Studio, of which he was the sole director.
At about 5.20pm on Monday, April 11, police found the pair dead at the studio. The force confirmed only Ramona’s death is being treated as suspicious, while detectives are not looking for anyone else in connection with the tragedy.
An inquest opening on Friday heard that Micu died from a stab wound to the stomach after he had killed his wife.
Ms Blackwell said: “In the cases of Ramona and Natalie, abuse by their husbands was known to authorities and to others before their deaths.
“Women must feel confident that they will be believed when they report abuse, and must be assured that any breaches of protective orders will be dealt with swiftly and effectively by the police. If you are affected by domestic abuse, you are not alone.”
Natalie’s memory is kept alive in Ashford town centre. Chelsea Ford, the teenager who witnessed the murder, opened her own salon on the town’s North Street seven months later, calling it Nat’ural Hair in tribute to her former boss and close friend.
Chelsea said at the time: “She taught me everything, not just about hairdressing but about life too.”
The salon remains open and on its website, Chelsea writes: “I decided to open a salon in memory of Natalie, as I couldn’t think of working for anyone else, to carry her legacy on in the hair industry and most importantly to create a safe environment for everyone but especially women.
“I made one last promise to her, that any client who sat in my chair would feel safe enough to offload any troubles or worries, to feel comfortable to be themselves and leave feeling as good about themselves as they look.”
■ Access free and confidential support from Refuge’s 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 and digital support via live chat Monday-Friday 3-10pm via www. nationaldahelpline.org.uk