Going to prison for years, or even decades, after our crimes means we don't get an opportunity to see the impacts of our actions on our victims. Tonight, I had a conversation with a victim of domestic violence, and I got to see first hand the impacts of domestic violence on somebody up close and personal. I've never been so happy that I've never put my hands on a woman as I was then.
As we had our 2nd marathon phone call in just as many days, I heard a piercing beep coming through the phone. I recognized it instantly for what it was, a smoke detector, and it didn't faze me a bit, but it terrified her to her core. She froze and you could hear the panic in her voice. Even when she finally realized it was the smoke detector, she couldn't overcome her fear. A single sound in the middle of the night had completely transformed a strong woman into a bundle of exposed nerves, terrified and on the verge of tears. It sent out its piercing wail several more times, not the single chirp it takes hours to track down, but the wail of an active fire, only to stop as soon as I finally convinced her to take a look.
It must have taken a full 20 minutes to talk her into climbing up on a chair to take a closer look, and even then, I couldn't convince her to unplug the smoke detector from the house's wiring, because she was afraid of being electrocuted, but I was able to get her to clear the cobwebs out if it. Apparently that did the trick, because it stopped, and didn't repeat, but I could still hear the panic in her voice.
It's difficult to fault her for feeling the way she did. We talked until 6 am, and she explained what happened to her. Turns out that she'd been horribly abused by her ex, a man who'd returned to sexually assault her daughter. Het daughter, bless her heart, had the foresight to strategically place a hidden camera to catch him in the act, after which time she showed it to her mother.
Like most victims of domestic violence, finding out about her daughter's violation was enough to send her into action, and she called the police. Unfortunately, despite photographic evidence, he was not arrested, and he came over seeking to silence her and her daughter. Out of respect for her pending criminal trial, I'll simply say this woman is an inspiration to women everywhere, but instead if giving her a medal, they arrested her and confiscated her guns. Out on bail now, living alone with her children and terrified out of her mind. Every sound terrifies her into thinking he's going to rise from the grave to seek his revenge, and sight of a police car has her convinced she's about to return to jail.for protecting herself, and her young daughter, from what's been described to me as the ultimate predator.
We never see the effects our actions have on our victims, which is a shame because, if we could see them as if seen her, we'd never commit a violent crime again.
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