I really fell for this guy. He was wonderful for the first 3 months, but then he changed and became very controlling. 

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He didn’t allow me to talk with friends freely and would throw and break things if I did. 

He told me I was a bitch, he spat on me and hit me. 

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On one occasion I was bedridden for 2 days from this and made excuses to people about how I was injured. He pulled a knife and stabbed my bedding, threatened me with objects, drove the car at high speeds with me in it – and always, always it was my fault. 

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I began to believe that it was my fault and felt like I was in this rollercoaster that I couldn’t get off. I spent every day crying until finally enough was enough and I left. Still, he came and begged me to give him another go and I did, but it wasn’t my choice to be in the relationship…… 

The first time Sunthari’s husband hit her was just a week after their wedding.  

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“We were in our marital home for the first time. He came at me with a kitchen knife. He held it against my throat and then he pushed me down. I tried to run upstairs but he dragged me down the stairs. Every time I tried to fight, he’d push me down and hit me again and again.  

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“I didn’t know what was happening. I was in pain, afraid and confused. I was crushed ... this was the man I was supposed to share my life with. Why was he hitting me?  

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“After some time, I got tired of fighting and just stayed on the ground. He left me there with my bruised and bloodied face,” she recounts.  

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He returned later, remorseful. He cried, begged forgiveness and promised to be better.  

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“I asked him why he’d hit me but he just cried and asked me to give him another chance. I was in love and isn’t that what you do when you love someone? So I gave him another chance and another and another,” she recounts.