Violence against women is a very serious subject. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in the US, American women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year.
Those who abuse and terrorize others should be locked up and convicted of their crimes. There is no excuse to take out your anger on someone else.
Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to seeing some men thinking they have the right to abuse women. Domestic violence is a big problem we are yet to get rid of.
In worst case scenarios, women may even be murdered by their tormentors, and the community and police fail to give women adequate protection afterwards.
Thankfully, some women are brave enough to break out for good.
Kelsie Skillen from Glasgow was 19 when she was almost killed by her then boyfriend, 19-year-old James McCourt.
Kelsie had no idea how aggressive her boyfriend could be — until one night James became so furious that he locked Kelsie in their home and tortured her for 4 hours.
It is unclear if James showed earlier signs of violence, according to various British media reports. But domestic abuse typically does not just arise from nowhere.
Often, men who beat their partners manifest controlling behavior and try to limit her contacts with friends and family.
Such men need to feel that they are in control, and express this in various ways, whether through spying on their communications with others, tell a woman what she can and cannot wear, and becoming jealous when she talks with other men.
Such partners may constantly phone to look up their partner, tell her to be home at a given time and become furious if she’s late.
But such men are, above all, cowardly: They are insecure and prey on women they think they can scare. These women, meanwhile, begin to suff from low self-esteem after days, months or years of abuse.
Even if your heart says he is a good guy, listen to your friends and family. They may know best.
Something within you will warn you that what’s happening in your relationship is not right. It’s probably your intuition. Pay attention to it.
On this particular evening in 2016, James became enraged against his girlfriend Kelsie, while heading home after a night out.
He blamed Kelsie for forgetting his jacket and began to yell at her. Kelsie refused to give him a cigarette. That’s when James became furious, according to the British The Mirror.
“He said it was my fault,” Kelsie says, adding:
“I had left his jacket, then he just flipped and grabbed me and attacked me.”
James held her hostage for four hours. She had no idea if she would live to see another day. James shut down their internet, hid her cell phone and removed anything that could allow her to escape from their home.
During this horrific experience, Kelsie was restrained on the floor. James hit her in the chest several times.
He beat her, spat on her and poured water on her. He threatened her and yelled.
Meanwhile, Kelsie could only think about one thing: how she could save herself. She appealed to James: There would be consequences of his actions, she warned.
She asked him several times: “Is this worth going to jail?”
But each time his ice-cold response was: “I don’t care if I go to jail as long as you’re dead.”
James was no longer what one could call a human; he’d turned into a monster. He hit Kelsie until she was unconscious. She did not think she would survive.
After four hours of abuse, James went to use the toilet. Kelsie knew it was her chance to escape death.
Gathering the last bit of power she had left, she managed to get to her iPad, which was almost dead. She grabbed a cable and managed to connect to the internet. She contacted her mother who immediately responded.
Kelsie’s mom reacted fast and rushed to their home, and James fled from the scene. He was later arrested and sentenced to 21 months in prison, for the violence he’d subjected Kelsie to.
I urge us all to stand together and help stop domestic violence.
A big thumbs up to Kelsie, who showed both strength and courage by surviving this nightmarish situation!
She will never forget what her ex boyfriend did to her, but she is one of the fortunate women who lived to tell her story!
Kelsie now uses her terrifying experience to warn others about how important it is to get away from a violent relationship before it goes really badly. Please share if you want to help her spread the story!
