Helen Nicholls shares her story of being accused, threatened, and attacked by her husband, highlighting the need for better support for victims of family violence and more meaningful consequences for perpetrators.
Helen Nicholls can tell most of the story of how her husband accused her of cheating on him, threatened to kill her and slashed her with a samurai sword in her bed, without breaking down. Twice after the attack in early July, in which she sustained a three-centimetre deep gash to her arm, she has had to leave work because she found herself sobbing “for no reason”.
Helen Nicholls asks “do I have to be a corpse before anything is done” by the justice system to better serve victims of family violence.But Nicholls contains her emotions as she recounts the events which led to the perpetrator pleading guilty on November 6 to making a threat to kill and intentionally causing injury. She is only overcome when it comes to discussing what she believes is a lack of meaningful consequences for serious violence, and the way victims feel abandoned.“I’m talking to you because there’s got to be a change in the judicial system: they’ve got to realise that you can’t be hurt and abused and then there are no consequence
Helen Nicholls Domestic Violence Judicial System Victims Consequences
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