CCChat-Magazine_Issue-27-Survivors-Speak

I truly believe that had I not had the
means to fight, I would have lost her
because there are just too many stories
of mothers that lose custody of their
children because they're victims of
domestic abuse and they don't have
any financial means to get legal
representation, you're somehow
perceived to be to blame if there's
violence towards you as a mother. So
that was going on and one Saturday
afternoon I got a phone call and I
answered it, and it was like, “Hi babe,
it's me.” It was Jason calling me from
prison.
M: Oh my God.
that they've got no regard for the law at
all if they're continuing from inside. I
had loads of missed calls from an
unknown number, I didn't answer
them and then one day a mobile
number rang and I answered it and it
was him, he'd forgotten to withhold
the number, so as soon as I put the
phone down I called the police officer
who was in charge of the case. I told
them Jason had just rung, here is the
mobile number and now you can check
the mast that it pinged off. They did a
check and it was the mast near the
prison he was in, so we had him for
witness intimidation, but even then, he
said I was trying to stitch him up.
"One Saturday afternoon I got a phone call and I answered it, and it was
like, “Hi babe, it's me.” It was Jason calling me from prison."
Z: The absolute delusion, hi babe. I
was like, pardon me? You tried to kill
me? This is where he showed his true
colours because I still couldn't quite
believe it in my own head. Well Zoe, if
I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.
What are you doing? Are you going to
court if you're going to go to court I
want to know, there's people in here
who can come and have a word with
you. I was like, right, put the phone
down, call the police. Okay, now he's
contacting me from prison with a
smuggled phone, it was unknown
number, this is witness intimidation,
and again, the police said don't answer
the phone. I said, but it is witness
intimidation, how are you telling me
not to answer the phone? Shouldn't
you be recording my calls? Tap my
phone? I know you can do it. Why
can't you? Witness intimidation shows
I must have sent somebody to the
prison to make that call, I mean the
elaborate stories that come out are
unbelievable.
M: I'm so glad you got through that. I
knew your story, or I thought I did but
I had no idea that it was so much
worse than I imagined.
Z: Yeah, it’s crazy, isn’t it?
M: The thing I can’t get my head
around was why your ex got residency,
I mean weren’t your children being
looked after by their Dads anyway?
Z: Yes, so I have a great relationship
with my son’s father and my daughter
was with her dad.
Making The Invisible Visible