A woman who claims to have endured 24 years of domestic violence is now “terrified” because a judge has decided to remove the electronic tag from her alleged aggressor.
The 45-year-old told Lusa that she feels she has been “left literally” to defend herself.
Up till now, “even with the electronic tag” she says her former partner “has made life hell”.
“From now on I fear what might happen, to me and my daughter,” she said. “Maybe I will become another statistic (see below)”.
The woman’s former partner meantime refutes the charges against him and is described as suing the woman and the daughter they have mutually for damages.
The woman’s lawyer told Lusa that the reason for the tag being removed was ‘a processual error”.
The time the tag had to stay in place expired, and the Public Ministry should have requested an extension.
As it didn’t, authorities were duty bound to release the man from his tag, and remove the panic button issued to his alleged victim.
This case is ongoing in Braga, which happens to be “the second district in the country with most deaths from domestic violence”.
Revisiting recent horrors, local online O Minho says that in the last 15 years “more than 500 Portuguese women have died” at the hands of their partners, or former partners/ lovers.
Just this year, 28 women have been killed, “some shot, others strangled or beaten to death”.
2019 has seen the added tragedy of a three-year-old child killed by her own father (click here).
The misery and frequency with which domestic violence is coming to light – often far too late – has prompted a group of women from Braga to present a petition to parliament.
The document, signed by 6,000 people, will be formally presented next week, to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, celebrated on November 25.
