| Fast-track courts are allowing cases of domestic violence to be dealt with more quickly. One victim of domestic abuse tells The One Show how she found the courage to speak out against her attacker. The BBC's Paul Burnell reports. She was head-butted, punched and even beaten with an iron bar, but Sarah still agonised over testifying against her husband.  Sarah was reluctant to testify against her abusive partner |
Like other victims of domestic violence Sarah (not her real name), 28, found it hard to break away from a violent marriage which had seen her hospitalised several times. "From being punched, head-butted, spat on, urinated on, I was beaten with a wrought iron bar. "Your broken bones they mend, your bruises fade, it's what happens inside your head. "The anticipation of waiting for that to happen was far worse than being actually physically attacked," she told The One Show. "My logical mind when I look back says, why didn't you leave? Breadwinner "But it doesn't work like that when you're in a relationship, the impact is not only on yourself but your family." She added: "I forgave him, but I didn't forget, I didn't want people to think bad things were going on in my life." Despite the treatment he meted out to her, she did not want to be responsible for sending her husband, whom she had known since school days, to jail. "Also it sounds selfish but the implications of the main breadwinner going to jail, who's going to pay the mortgage?" Like other victims of domestic abuse she found the criminal and legal system daunting. "To go into such an alien environment it was just absolutely horrendous. "It was the worst experience I had in my life." Backing out She admitted she was torn and at one stage retracted her evidence. "I didn't want things to continue the way they were with my husband but at the same time I didn't want to have to give evidence against him in order for it to stop, I just wanted life to be nice and everything to stop." Sarah would probably still be trapped in this abusive relationship but for an innovation in the criminal justice system. Specialist Domestic Violence Courts (SDVC) not only offer a range of services to support the victim but they also allow offenders to be brought to court more quickly. This leaves less chance of the women having second thoughts or moving back to their abusive partner. The government established the new courts two years ago. There are now 98 courts in place in England and Wales. Deborah Parry, the Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor in Greater Manchester who persuaded Sarah to give evidence, said the Specialist Domestic Violence Courts have had a marked effect. "Before the specialist courts there were a lot of cases lost because the victim retracted," she said. The new courts reduce delays in prosecution and give greater victim support which has led to more successful prosecutions. And this has a further effect as Ms Parry explained: "It gives victims the courage to come forward. "Not only are they dealt with properly but also because there is support through the court process and at the end of it." Sarah echoes this comment: "It was so difficult but I felt so empowered by the fact I done it that I finally stood tall and I wasn't going to accept my life to be like that any more." You can view more of this story by watching The One Show, BBC One, 1900 BST, Thursday 19 June 2008.
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To go into such an alien environment [the court system] it was just absolutely horrendous
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