Harrowing insight into the world of victims of domestic abuse
PICK OF THE DAY
AFRIGHTENED woman is on the phone to the police. Her partner has smashed her head on the cooker and she’s absolutely terrified.
It’s a shocking start to this harrowing documentary that journeys inside the lives of two victims of domestic abuse.
Police are called to a domestic abuse incident every 30 seconds and in Britain, two women are murdered every week by their partners.
This is the story of Kelly and Hazel, two women from Norfolk attacked in the same week, who have bravely spoken out to encourage others to seek help.
A word of warning though, it makes for uneasy viewing.
We begin with Hazel, 45, on the phone to the police, explaining that her partner was stamping on her head and punching her.
“I think he’s broken my jaw,” she says, struggling to breathe.
“He said he wanted to do as much damage as he could.”
Paramedics discover he had also ripped some of her hair out.
Then we hear what happened to Kelly, in her 20s, whose husband has a history of domestic abuse and is now threatening her and trying to leave with her baby son.
Over months, Kelly had been strangled, punched and threatened with knives and bottles, but denied the abuse to the police.
“I didn’t have the courage to say he’s hitting me. He made me feel I deserve it,” she says.
With remarkable access, this charts the heart-breaking reality of life inside a violent relationship, from the fear of attack to enduring an investigation to find out if their partner will face justice.