Man Ties Wife to Bunk Bed and Smashes Her Ankles With Hammer to Stop Her From Escaping

8 years ago

Man Ties Wife to Bunk Bed and Smashes Her Ankles With Hammer to Stop Her From Escaping

The woman whose husband tied her to a bed and smashed her ankles with a hammer so she could not escape has opened up about the horrific 18 years of domestic abuse she suffered in the hope of freeing other victims stranded in abusive relationships.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the 35-year-old is seeking to assure women and men subject to physically violence at the hands of their partners that there is a way out after her controlling ex was jailed for nine years.

She was repeatedly attacked, raped and belittled by the once charming man who swept her off her feet as a starry eyed teenager.

Her husband banned her from choosing what she wore, took away her bank cards and stopped her from learning to drive as he sought to control every part of her being - leaving her a prisoner in her own, isolated home.

He would strike her with dog choker chains and iron fire pokers. He broke her jaw as she stood with their three-week-old in her arms.

The brave 35-year-old told the North Wales Daily Post: 'It began with calling me names and the odd slap or punch, but soon escalated to using various weapons.
'He cut me off from my friends and family and we lived in isolated properties, I didn't speak to anyone, I didn't go out. I wasn't allowed to learn how to drive.
'I was only 16, and this was my first serious relationship. I didn't know that what was happening wasn't normal.'

She explained how her husband would fly into a rage at almost anything - from housework not being done to eggs being cooked the wrong way.

'I was trying to protect my children and I thought, if he's doing this to me, he's sparing them, I was blind to the emotional impact it had on them,' she recalled.
'I was constantly walking on eggshells, each day waking up just to simply try and survive without a beating.'

After every abusive incident, her husband would apologise. He would cry and buy her flowers, vowing each time that it would never happen again.

But it always did.

Gripped by fear and loneliness, the woman felt completely trapped with nowhere to go and no-one to turn to.

Despite receiving brutal injuries, she would almost always never attend hospital. When her husband broke her arm with a baseball bat, she attended A&E using a false name and address.

She only finally realised enough was enough when he began to threaten their children.

She said: 'In my mind, I had stayed to protect them but I was starting to see how what they were witnessing was having an affect on them.'

She added: 'I honestly don't know how I'm alive. I have to keep thinking positive and put the past behind me. I am thankful that I now have a future, freedom and safety, something I never have before.
'I refuse to live my life looking over my shoulder.'