Victims deserve to be valued more than perpetrators

NEVER imagined the man I once loved would become the source of my greatest nightmare. In April 2011, Shane Jenkin subjected me to 12 hours of unimaginable violence, leaving me permanently blind. He broke my jaw, throttled me into unconsciousness, and gouged out my eyes - all while my two young sons slept upstairs.

- Tina Nash

Despite the horror of his actions, Jenkin was sentenced to a minimum of just six years in prison in 2012.

Now, after multiple failed parole attempts, he's been moved to an open prison and is set to be released.

That decision feels like a personal betrayal but it also exposes a deeper, systemic failure that affects every victim of domestic abuse.

Our justice system continues to fail survivors while offering leniency to perpetrators. There's a two-tier approach at play - one that prioritises the rehabilitation and "rights" of abusers over the safety, voice and trauma of those they've hurt.

I've been urged to consider what Jenkin must carry. But what about what I carry?

I can no longer see the faces of my children. I walk through life in darkness, navigating a world that was violently and suddenly taken from me. Every moment since that attack has been shaped by what he did.

IKE so many others, I didn't recognise the signs of abuse until it was too late. I stayed, hoping he would change, blaming myself, excusing his behaviour.

That's the insidious nature of abuse it's not just the physical violence, but the emotional control that convinces you you're the problem.