This is an inspiring story of a woman who escaped an abusive relationship.
I saw Susan first appear on Oprah a few years ago. After 14 years of escalating violence, her husband had their 13-year-old son tape him beating his wife. After 51 videotaped minutes of kicking, punching, and slapping her, he screams at her that she will follow him "to a T." Her offense? She asked if she could make him a sandwich for lunch. That's almost an hour of documented domestic violence. Susan says her husband had often made an audio recording of his tirades against her so he could listen to them later. This was the first and only time he videotaped the abuse.
Now Susan's husband is serving a 36 year sentence, the longest sentence on record for domestic violence.
The videotape was not the only evidence that convicted her husband. Susan's boss started keeping a daily record of signs of abuse before confronting her employee the day after the videotaped assault. When Susan came into work the next day, her boss called the police and together Susan, her boss, and the police came up with a plan to convict Susan's husband.
Without her employer's record of Susan's injuries, absences, and victim behavior, the videotape alone would have only proved one instance of assault, punishable by one year in jail. Because someone else was vigilant and was willing to testify, Ulner Lee Still will not be able to abuse another woman or any of his children for years.
No comments:
Post a Comment