I was a victim of domestic violence for years at the hands of my former partner who suffered from mental illness. I was verbally denigrated on a daily basis, hit with objects, had my tooth knocked out, and then had the threat of having our children withheld from me if I ever left. I spoke to her family about it and was told to simply “man up”.

Now almost 6 years after leaving, we have joint equal custody of our children, however she assaulted me about 6 months ago in front of our 5 year old son. I decided that enough was enough and made a police report and she was arrested and charged with assault and had an intervention order placed against her. The courts however chose not to prosecute, her lawyer citing that I had beat up my claims and that she couldn't have done any real harm to me. The intervention order stood however.