Domestic violence is a matter of serious concern not just in India but in foreign countries as well. Annie Smith, a 25-yr mother of two from Manchester, decided to talk about her lover Nyasha Makunike (26) who had transformed into a violent abuser over the years.
When she met Nyasha, she was just 16 and they were a great couple. Nyasha was a perfect boyfriend until Annie gave birth to their first child in 2013. After the birth of their daughter, the man started getting violent and wanted to control Annie as she tells,
“He’d tell me that, now I was a mum, I couldn’t wear makeup or dresses and slim-fitting tops. Looking back, I can see now he was taking my identity away, but at the time, I loved him so much I didn’t see it. He wore me so far down that I was eventually just living through him, waiting for him to tell me what to do. I was so desperate to make him happy.”
Not only this, Nyasha also forced Annie to delete her all accounts on social media and also deprived her of phone so that she cannot talk to anyone from family or friends. She told,
“He’d often go out without telling me where, sometimes taking my keys. He’d even order me to keep the curtains closed, while he was out, and tell me he had neighbours watching me. I was, quite literally, his prisoner.”
In 2014, he went a level ahead and punched Annie in her face just because their son was crying for a long time. In 2015, a girl was born to the couple and Nyasha’s behaviour got worsen. He raped Annie in 2016 after she put her kids to bed and came out from bathroom in towel after taking a shower. She told,
“I had a towel wrapped around me from being in the bath, but he took that to mean I’d slept with someone else. Next thing I knew, he lunged toward me, strangling me until I couldn’t speak. I frantically tapped his back to make him get off me and he briefly let go – but then he shoved me back onto the bed and raped me with our daughter asleep metres away. I sobbed the whole way through, praying my baby wouldn’t wake up.”
She escaped with her kids when one day Nyasha dropped his keys in the house by mistake. She went to a corner shop and asked the employees to call the cops.
He was caught by the police after running for 2 weeks and he has been sent to prison for 13 years by the Minshull Street Crown Court. The judgment was given by the court in February this year and Nyasha was charged for rape, sexual assault, nine counts of assault and harassment and actual bodily harm.
Annie said,
“When I discovered he’d been found guilty, the relief was indescribable. Finally, me and my children were free. Now, I want to help other women out there realise that they aren’t alone. Nyasha broke me down, and controlled me for so long, but I’ve finally realised that it wasn’t my fault.”
Annie opened up about her plight in the campaign titled 16 Days of Action Against Domestic Violence.