\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>t was a sunny Friday in August when Rachel Williams arrived at the hair salon where she worked in Newport, Wales. As she was shuffling clients around, she remembers \u201clooking at the shop door or window and thinking something was obscuring the sunlight\u201d. She quickly recognised her ex-husband Darren\u2019s 6ft 7in frame, and instinctively ran towards him as he pulled a sawn-off shotgun out of his black duffel bag.<\/p>\n She fought him for the gun and was soon on the floor beside a woman in her 90s called Connie, who was shouting: \u201cGo on, get out of here, get out of here.\u201d (\u201cShe was in the war, so made of steel.\u201d) Rachel tried to pull a table across herself for protection but Darren kicked it away. Instead, she rolled into the foetal position, pulling her knees up under her chin. \u201cHe stood four feet away from me, told me he loved me, and pulled the trigger. My left leg took the first shot and I can remember it wasn\u2019t a pain, it was a force.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel could smell the gunpowder and looked down at her jeans where there was a gaping hole. \u201cI remember looking and thinking, \u2018Oh my God, he\u2019s shot me.\u2019 And then I felt a blast to the right of me, and that clearly missed my head.\u201d She grabbed the gun with \u201csupernatural strength\u201d, and clung on as he stamped all over her head and punched her back. \u201cMy left ear had to be slit seven times to get rid of a huge cauliflower ear. I had a bruise from a black eye that travelled all the way down my neck and landed on my shoulder and collarbone. He battered me and then he was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Rachel in hospital after the shooting.<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of Rachel Williams<\/p>\n The hours that followed are a morphine-filled blur. The local vet came to help, followed by an ambulance and the police. Soon, she was at hospital getting treatment for her shattered shin and knee, surrounded by armed police to protect her. But by 7pm she was told that they had found Darren dead in a localwoodland; he had killed himself. \u201cThe relief,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t even thinking about my leg.\u201d<\/p>\n R<\/span>achel met Darren in March 1993, through a neighbour, when she was a 21-year-old single mum to Josh, who was two. Darren was witty and made her laugh. It started with a coffee but quickly became serious and, in hindsight, she knows he \u201clove-bombed\u201d her.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you work in the sector and you see the eight stages of domestic abuse or the homicide timeline, you can see how quickly perpetrators will escalate moving in,\u201d says Rachel, who founded SUTDA (Stand Up to Domestic Abuse) in January 2021, a decade after she was attacked. \u201cDarren was living with me within 12 months, and not long after that I was pregnant with Jack. It\u2019s all about that power and control and getting the victim to where they want them.\u201d<\/p>\n Every day you\u2019re strategically thinking, as soon as you open your eyes, \u2018How am I going to pacify my perpetrator today?\u2019<\/p>\n The honeymoon period didn\u2019t last long before Darren\u2019s abuse began. He used to say: \u201cToday I\u2019m going to be Daniel, which is the nice side of me,\u201d says Rachel. \u201cAlmost a bit like Jekyll and Hyde.\u201d He quickly started belittling Rachel with comments about her being a single mother when they met, saying things like: \u201cI found you in the gutter.\u201d After she gave birth to Jack, he bought her a car so she could run errands, and she remembers finding it odd when he said the reason was: \u201cI don\u2019t want blokes eyeballing you when you\u2019re walking around with a pushchair.\u201d<\/p>\n The first time she remembers fearing for her life was after an argument when she was seven months pregnant. Darren, who was \u201chuge\u201d and \u201cweighed about 18 stone\u201d, turned physically violent. She can\u2019t remember what had angered him, but he threw an apple at her, then followed her upstairs where she was cowering beside the wardrobe. \u201cHe lifted me off the floor by my throat and said he only let me go because my lips turned blue,\u201d says Rachel.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople might think, \u2018Why didn\u2019t she leave then?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cBut when you\u2019ve got somebody who is one of the most manipulative people you will ever meet, falling to the floor and crying like a baby and begging for forgiveness, knowing all the stuff in his life, you just think you can fix them and try to work with them. I was already a single mum and I didn\u2019t want to be a single parent of two children by two different fathers,\u201d she adds, feeling that she had to try to make it work.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018Nobody was confirming this is a dangerous pattern of behaviour\u2019 \u2026 Rachel with Darren.<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of Rachel Williams<\/p>\n The next 18 years were all about surviving within a cycle of abuse. \u201cEvery day you\u2019re strategically thinking, as soon as you open your eyes, \u2018How am I going to pacify my perpetrator today?\u2019 It\u2019s all about keeping a happy home harmonious, without any reason for an outburst. It is the walking on eggshells; you\u2019re constantly assessing things.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel would feel the tension rising before an assault, which could range from him spitting in her face to strangulation, punching the back of her head and ramming his head into hers to push her against the wall. One of his favourite things to do was to place his massive hands on her face and crush it. There were a couple of silent 999 calls, where she pressed 55 to transfer the call to the police without her speaking, leading them to her location. But when the police showed up, Darren would stand behind her as they asked if everything was all right. Next would come the remorse, which would last about a week. \u201cThere was always a bouquet of flowers and chocolates and apologies,\u201d she says: he was playing with her head. Rachel and Darren got married on 29 December 2005.<\/p>\n Darren, who was a bouncer, was injecting steroids and taking a combination of antidepressants and sleeping tablets that Rachel thinks probably exacerbated his temper, but alcohol and drugs weren\u2019t what triggered the abuse, which was only directed at her. \u201cAbuse is a choice; it is done with free will,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n <\/span>Rachel with her son Jack.<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of Rachel Williams<\/p>\n He often let his temper bubble up in public: \u201cHe was a law unto himself,\u201d she says. Rachel\u2019s sister saw Darren pin her up against the burger van <\/strong>at Newport Docks where Rachel sometimes worked with her sister, after she arrived a little late from collecting bread rolls. \u201cHe flipped all the rolls in the air. He threw the great big diesel generator down the road. There was one guy who said to my sister: \u2018That man is an animal and I will never come back here again,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Another time, her neighbour asked her friend Sue whether she\u2019d heard from Rachel one day. \u201cI heard that Darren was dragging that wheelie bin down the steps at 2am,\u201d he told her. \u201cClearly, he thought I was in the wheelie bin,\u201d says Rachel.<\/p>\n But no one said anything to Darren, who was \u201ca force to be reckoned with\u201d and had \u201cfingers in pies and I never knew what he was up to,\u201d she says. \u201cHis bedtime reading was Donnie Brasco, Al Capone, the Krays.\u201d<\/p>\n I<\/span>t was about 7.30am on 9 July 2011 when Rachel finally reached her limit. She had got into an argument with Darren the night before, after he had arrived home in the early hours of the morning, and she had been on her way out of the house to style hair for a wedding. He strangled her downstairs by the kitchen door so hard she squealed \u201clike a pig\u201d. It woke up the children, who were 20 and 16 respectively. Josh, the eldest, came running down the stairs doing a silent 999 call, while Jack held a baseball bat.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he saw the kids, he let go, then he started crying and everything else \u2013 they like to become the victim.\u201d After a while the kids went to bed, but Darren dragged Rachel up the stairs and threatened to slit his own wrists. Jack came back into the room as Darren scrambled through a drawer of hunting knives, and watched him slash his skin superficially. That was the moment she knew \u2013 \u201cI have got to get out of this,\u201d says Rachel.<\/p>\n On average, victims experience 50 incidents of abuse and take seven failed attempts to leave before they go for good. Luckily, Rachel had always worked: she cleaned the doctor\u2019s surgery before her day started, she had a mobile hairdressing business, and did shifts at a salon. She didn\u2019t have savings but knew she would cope, and had already thought about getting a flat. She has always been close to her mum, and had a small but close-knit circle of friends to rely on. \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s great having a network,\u201d she says, \u201cbut ultimately it\u2019s on the victim-slash-survivor that\u2019s got to say, \u2018Right, I\u2019m going to do this.\u2019\u201d At the point of leaving, though, \u201cyou just have tunnel vision\u201d.<\/p>\n My son clearly felt shame from it. That\u2019s the problem with domestic violence \u2013 it\u2019s a ripple effect<\/p>\n But leaving still felt insurmountable. \u201cAt one point, I did think the only way out was suicide.\u201d She drove down to Amroth Beach, \u201cbut something came over me where I just thought: I am not taking my life because of him.\u201d Darren had always said to her: \u201cThere\u2019s only one way out and that\u2019s in a wooden box,\u201d and she didn\u2019t want to give him the satisfaction.<\/p>\n A few days later, she had a solicitors appointment and filed for divorce. She went to the police station and gave a historical statement, in which she disclosed the most recent strangulation. Darren was charged with common assault. The sentence for that is no more than six months in prison, but more often than not, it is suspended or a fine. \u201cThis is why I pushed for non-fatal strangulation,\u201d says Rachel, who petitioned to have it added to the Domestic Violence Act of 2022. \u201cHe may as well have slapped me in the face or spat.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel wants the courts to do more when it comes to charging perpetrators: \u201cIf that was done to a stranger in the street, they would have probably had the five years it can carry,\u201d she says. In the domestic abuse setting, strangulation is most often carried out as an act of \u201cpower and control. The perpetrator will grab you by the throat, put pressure on \u2013 you only need the pressure of a handshake to kill somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Catherine White, whose research was used as evidence to change the law regarding non-fatal strangulation, says it restricts oxygen to the brain and can cause internal bleeding so that victims can die a few days later. It is thought to be the second biggest cause of stroke in women under 40. And women who have been strangled, throttled or choked are seven times more likely to be a victim of homicide.<\/p>\n Darren was given a restraining order that meant he wasn\u2019t allowed to come within three miles of the marital home. However, he continued to use the gym nearby. He started stalking Rachel: sitting outside her place of work in his Land Rover and staring at her for half an hour. \u201cI\u2019d phone the police and say, \u2018He\u2019s outside again,\u2019 and they\u2019d ask if he was doing anything.\u201d It made her feel like a nuisance. \u201cNobody was confirming this is a dangerous pattern of behaviour,\u201d says Rachel.<\/p>\n The day before the shooting, all the bail restrictions were lifted by a lay magistrate, even though he had made threats to kill, had a conviction for firearms, and was a serial perpetrator. The police themselves came to warn her, and offered to install a panic room in her house. They added two metal brackets and a metal bar to her doors in case he came to the home.<\/p>\n <\/span>Rachel: \u2018We have a criminal justice system that is broken, shattered. It needs to be started again.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Gareth Iwan Jones\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The horror didn\u2019t end with Darren shooting her in the salon that summer\u2019s day. Once Rachel was discharged from hospital in September, her 16-year-old son Jack took his life. They had been very close: \u201cHe was like my shadow,\u201d she says. But he had spiralled after his mother\u2019s attempted murder and his father\u2019s death. He had gone to the salon to apologise for his father\u2019s actions, and was living with Darren\u2019s family.<\/p>\n He became overwhelmed. \u201cSixteen is a really impressionable age with his hormones and everything else,\u201d she says. \u201cHe clearly felt shame from it.\u201d That\u2019s the problem with domestic violence, she adds: \u201cIt\u2019s a ripple effect.\u201d<\/p>\n For the last decade, Rachel has campaigned tirelessly to end domestic abuse, which she describes as \u201ca national emergency\u201d. She hopes to set up The House that Jack Built, a children and young person\u2019s refuge, in memory of her son. \u201cWe should be training everybody around domestic abuse and violence,\u201d she says, teaching young boys and girls about what a healthy relationship is. She wants restraining orders to be taken seriously and see perpetrators face repercussions for their abuse. \u201cWe have a criminal justice system that is broken, shattered. It needs to be started again.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel had to deal with the emotional torture of losing her son, as well as a tremendous amount of physical pain as a result of the abuse she faced. Her house had to be fitted with a commode and a new toilet seat to help during her recovery, but when her mum suggested putting in a stairlift as well, Rachel told her not to dare: \u201cI will get up those stairs,\u201d she said, \u201cif I\u2019ve got to go up on my ass.\u201d Her mindset was: \u201cI\u2019m not staying like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel\u2019s attitude to dating was the same. She met her new husband Mike in November, the year she was shot, and he\u2019s been the rock that she needed. \u201cMy attitude was, I\u2019m not going to let someone ruin the rest of my life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was a sunny Friday in August when Rachel Williams arrived at the hair salon where she worked in Newport, Wales. As she was shuffling clients around, she remembers \u201clooking at the shop door or window and thinking something was obscuring the sunlight\u201d. She quickly recognised her ex-husband Darren\u2019s 6ft 7in frame, and instinctively ran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1083,131,1386,3575,5375,16889,8041,10158,1388,2538],"class_list":{"0":"post-28413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-close","9":"tag-day","10":"tag-domestic","11":"tag-hair","12":"tag-range","13":"tag-salon","14":"tag-shot","15":"tag-sunny","16":"tag-violence","17":"tag-worked"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}