“I hope the system will start to understand”: the Court of Appeal hearing that will carve the way for other survivors

Last week our phenomenally brave client ‘Jenny’ (who we can’t name for legal reasons) gave evidence in the Court of Appeal in what could be a landmark case. Dignified and poised, and after years of enforced silence, she was finally able to truthfully recount to the world what happened on a horrific night five years ago, when she was alleged to have harmed her baby.

The truth is that she did not intentionally hurt her baby. He fell from her arms after she was punched in the face by her abusive ex-partner - the little boy’s father. Jenny has completed a two-and-a-half-year sentence in prison; life as she once knew it has already been broken apart. She is now fiercely determined to clear her name.

In investigating her case, APPEAL found that Jenny, who is from a Black and Minority Ethnic background, lived with abuse so severe an expert psychologist described her experiences in the relationship as equivalent to “torture” She endured being deprived of sleep and food and being unable to leave the house for extended periods of time. She described to the court how he would play mind games with her - telling her to make him a cup of tea, then after she put the kettle on he’d turn it off again and tell her she was crazy, “I actually began to believe it” she told the court.

This abuse was ongoing over three years but despite multiple police call-outs and tell tail signs, it was not picked up by police. Officers were called to violent incidents at the couple’s home 11 times over two years, including on four occasions between her arrest and trial, but Jenny was repeatedly treated as an aggressor. This, combined with the controlling behaviour from her partner, makes it wholly unsurprising that she was unable to place trust in public authorities and disclose the abuse.

Last week, APPEAL presented contemporaneous evidence to the judges in the case - Lady Justice Macur, Mr Justice Jay and Mr Justice Murray – which strongly supports Jenny’s version of events.

In police records there was a note of a hand injury to the fist that Jenny’s ex-partner is alleged to have punched her with. Although this would have been relevant for the defence team to investigate, it was not disclosed by the police at the time. We also know that Jenny was diagnosed with ‘post-concussion syndrome’ after her arrest and witnesses heard Jenny shouting “you hit me” at her ex-partner on the night of the incident.

Links between domestic abuse and criminal offending are well established. Almost 60% of women caught in the criminal justice system have experienced domestic abuse. While recent cases - including that of Sally Challen - have highlighted the devastating impact of coercive relationships on offending behaviour.

But this case is different. Jenny was not driven by coercion to offend: she is innocent. She was instead driven to lie: to her family, the police and the Crown court at trial. Telling the truth was not an option for her because she was petrified of what the consequences might be for her and her family. In one poignant moment, she told that court that if she had, she “might not be here today”.

It was only after she was in prison, physically separated from her ex-partner, that she finally felt safe in coming forward. After being diagnosed with PTSD, she was receiving peer-to-peer support with other survivors in prison which helped her to find the courage she needed.

According to a 2017 report BME women on average suffer domestic abuse for approximately eight years before disclosing abuse and/or seeking support, versus the national average of 2.3 years. As Jenny explained to us “when you’re in a coercive relationship it takes a long time for your mind to start piecing itself back together and processing the trauma you have gone through. Only then can you acknowledge the abuse and speak out without shame and fear.”

This is the first known case to deal with these issues and will set a precedent for others. If she wins, it will send a clear message to other survivors that they too can seek justice and that the criminal justice system is genuinely committed to confronting the realities of violence against women and girls.

A decision is expected in the coming weeks.