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BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA woman who feared she would be killed by an abusive partner has urged victims of domestic violence to come forward and trust the police to put offenders in jail.<\/p>\n Chelsea Hamilton, 32, was attacked with a knife and crossbow during incidents across three years.<\/p>\n Her ex-partner was sentenced in 2023 to six-and-a-half years imprisonment for various offences.<\/p>\n She has backed an updated police action plan which will see violence against women and girls given the same priority as dealing with terrorism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “For women, Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places to live in Europe,” Chelsea told BBC NI News.<\/p>\n Between 2019 and 2024, 30 women and girls have been killed by men.<\/p>\n She has welcomed strategies to tackle the issue, including one launched last week by the Stormont Executive.<\/a><\/p>\n “People up top are seeing this is a big problem.<\/p>\n “It is starting to get a wee bit more noise around it which is amazing – if that even helps one woman, that is all you can ask for.”<\/p>\n During a relationship, which involved coercive control, a series of attacks saw her punched, kicked, head-butted and choked unconscious.<\/p>\n The man involved was training to be a professional mixed martial arts fighter.<\/p>\n The abuse during the three-year relationship started “small” and got increasingly more violent as it went on.<\/p>\n “There were punches, headbutts and kicks,” she told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n “He was an MMA fighter, so he knew were to kick and punch me were it hurt the most and showed the least,” she added.<\/p>\n Chelsea did not know when he met him that he had a criminal history. <\/p>\n The abuse was also emotional. <\/p>\n “He would ignore me, get nasty and chip away at my appearance, bring up things that happened to me in the past, saying that I deserved them,” she said.<\/p>\n “I felt worthless, he is what I deserved, because I didn\u2019t deserve any better,” she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On one occasion after being threatened, Chelsea was “too scared to go to sleep”.<\/p>\n She tried to leave the next day.<\/p>\n Within minutes of her walking away he started to beat her.<\/p>\n “He headbutted me, kicked me and I heard my ribs break,” she said. <\/p>\n She went into another room, closed the door and sat on the floor and a crossbow arrow came through the door, which she said would have hit her had she not been sitting. <\/p>\n “I then did try to leave, but before I did he put me in a rear naked choke hold and dragged me to the ground.”<\/p>\n She screamed, hoping a neighbour would hear her.<\/p>\n “The more I screamed the angrier he got and he whispered in my ear: \u2018I\u2019m going to kill you,\u2019 as I started to pass out. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I genuinely thought: \u2018I\u2019m going to die here.\u2019”<\/p>\n Her abuser left, and she rang her stepdad to come and get her, who rang the police.<\/p>\n Chelsea describes that day as both the worst and best day of her life.<\/p>\n “I didn\u2019t feel like anyone would believe me, because some of the stuff he did was so horrific,” she told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m speaking out so other women don\u2019t go on as long as I did. I don\u2019t want women and girls to get to this point.”<\/p>\n‘I felt worthless’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘I heard my ribs break’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘I’m going to die here’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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