How Newport woman built a new life after parents' murder
A woman whose parents were killed with a shotgun by her abusive boyfriend has written a book.
The woman, known only as Joanne, lives in the Newport area and has told her story in a book, Diamonds In The Rough.
It is a collection of stories of individuals overcoming adversity and is now available on Kindle.
Joanne said: "If I could get a message out there for people who may themselves be in a situation involving domestic abuse of some form, that they don't need to put up with it and that there are many agencies now to assist people in getting out of these relationships, that would be great."
Her daughter was only five weeks old when her parents were killed in 1991 along with one of the family dogs which had tried to protect her mother.
Sue had become pregnant in an abusive relationship and, believing things would become better after the baby was born, stayed with the man, a farm worker.
After one attack in which he hit her across the face she rang her mother and asked her to collect her, as she was leaving him. On police advice, she went away for a few days, only for him to go down with a shotgun and kill her parents the following day.
"I was going to drive home that day. I was quite a home bird, but in the morning I had had a conversation with my dad and he told me to stay where I was – Divine intervention maybe."
While she could rationalise the killing of her father as a "man to man thing", Joanne said: "I will never understand why he did what he did to my mum and made her suffer. She was a very gentle soul."
Joanne dedicated herself to bringing up her daughter and when her daughter was about to turn five, she moved to Shropshire to be away from where the tragedy had taken place, and where her daughter could begin school where nobody knew her.
Needing companionship and support, she married a man from a farming family and they had a child. But the marriage went wrong and the final straw came when he took a kitchen knife, grabbed her around the neck and pinned her to the bed. Even after the resulting court case he continued to harass her.
After another failed relationship she was, with the help of a psychologist, able to change her life direction and began her own business.
Further trauma came when her parents' killer was released from jail after serving 14 years, but Joanne finishes her story on an upbeat note: "No matter how hard things get, no matter how low you get, remember to always look on the bright side of life. Believe in yourself and your capabilities, because the only way is up. If I could do it, then I know that you can do it too."
