6th April, 2011
Thulisiwe's Story
Thulisiwe's boyfriend had been beating her repeatedly, so she ran away yet he kept stalking her.
She felt very unsafe, worried that she couldn't ever escape the violence.
My boyfriend had been giving me a lot of problems. He kept taking things from our house and giving them to our relatives.
When I complained, he would beat me. He also beat me when I asked for money to buy food for the children. Eventually I ran away but he kept stalking me. I felt very unsafe, so I decided to go to the police station. I had heard the police on the radio telling people that they must report abuse. I knew I could go there for help. When I went to the station, they were very kind. The police have a crisis centre at the station and they took me there so I could talk to an AMREF counsellor.
Then I was taken to a magistrate. He gave me protection order and gave a copy to the police. They took it to my boyfriend, After two months, my boyfriend and I were summoned to the court. The magistrate gave him a very strong warning not to insult or beat me again. My boyfriend has apologised for his behaviour and now things are quite at home. The police and the counsellor have visited me to find out how I am. I feel safer now because the issue is no longer mine alone – the police and the magistrate are supporting me.