So sad for the woman

The Herald reports:

A protection order was supposed to keep a woman safe.

Instead, a judge said it proved “no better than a piece of soiled toilet paper” as her partner hunted her down, beat her, threatened her life and raped her during a sustained attack that left her fearing she would die.

Now the Northland man has been jailed in the Whangārei District Court for nine years after being convicted of multiple violent offences, including rape, assault and threatening to kill.

For once this isn’t about the sentence. It seems reasonable. It is about this aspect:

But on the second day of the trial, her evidence took a turn.

“She was now saying that everything she said in her evidential interview … was just a pack of lies,” Judge McDonald said.

“Apart from telling the truth about her age, her name, and the number of children she had and their names, everything else was untrue.

“You never assaulted her, you never supplied her with drugs, you never raped her. She painted you as a loving, gentle giant of a man who did everything that you could for her, and that she was the one that was violent, she was the one that was disrespectful, she was the one who was addicted to methamphetamine, she was the one who wouldn’t look after her children.”

Judge McDonald said he allowed the Crown to cross-examine her and, although she accepted some events, she continued to deny the vast majority.

Both the jury and judge rejected her evidence and found the man guilty of the charges.

It’s this part I find so sad. She was raped and almost killed by this man. Yet during his trial, she perjures himself to try and protect him.

I understand who some women do this. They think they won’t get anyone better. They think that as flawed as the man is, at least he is her man etc. So I am not blaming the poor woman.

I just find it so very very sad that she thought she had to do this, to protect this awful man.

I hope with him behind bars, she can find a better life.