A single mum whose life became a living nightmare when her boyfriend bombarded her with thousands of threatening text messages and relentlessly stalked her for months on end has opened about the harrowing ordeal.
Mum-of-three Tash Kramer thought she found the love of her life after she struck up a relationship with Gavin Porter while living in Benalla in Victoria’s north-east in March last year.
She initially wasn’t looking for a relationship with the Irish national but the pair ‘hit it off’ before things took an ugly turn.
Ms Kramer claims that just three months into the romance, Porter became jealous and possessive and began to abuse and threaten her.
She claimed he would also drive past her house and call incessantly.
‘He would get drunk and just start calling me names,’ Ms Kramer told A Current Affair.
‘Calling me fat, calling me ugly, telling me to kill myself and then have no recollection the next day’.
Fearing for her life and her children’s safety, Ms Kramer claimed she would comply with Porter’s alleged demands to meet him at certain places.
Ms Kramer (pictured) claims that just three months into the relationship, Porter became jealous and possessive before he allegedly began to abuse and threaten her
‘Beg for forgiveness and then it was just a cycle.’
‘I tried many times to end the relationship, but he wouldn’t have it, I was a possession to him.’
Porter also sent Ms Kramer threatening text messages during their relationship.
‘I’m going to make your life hell,’ one message read.
Porter threatened to cut her throat in another.
Ms Kramer claims their relationship soon became violent and recalled one particular incident.
‘He [allegedly] punched me in the hip and then choked me on the ground,’ Ms Kramer said.
Police eventually arrested Porter following the alleged threats and uncovered 3,000 text messages.
Seven months into the relationship, police took out an interim family violence intervention order against Porter.
Ms Kramer claims that Porter was angry about the court imposed order, amid fears he would lose his visa and be deported.
‘The magistrate asked me whether I was happy for the order to stay for a year, I agreed,’ Ms Kramer said.
‘Within a minute of me agreeing to the order, my phone started ringing and Gavin was making threats to come to my work.’
Seven months after the couple (pictured) began their relationship, police took out an interim family violence intervention order against Porter (pictured right)
At breaking point the young mum pondered ending her life and drove to the nearby train tracks, where police eventually found her and took her back her to the police station.
But the nightmare wasn’t over yet.
One night, Porter came to her home and allegedly tapped on the window while she was sleeping.
A terrified Ms Kramer grabbed a kitchen knife, locked her children inside the house and ran outside in a desperate bid to keep Porter away from her kids.
By the time police had arrived, Porter allegedly fled the scene.
The torment finally ended last November when police caught up with Porter shortly after he arrived in Melbourne on a flight from WA.
He was arrested at a hotel 40 minutes later.
Porter (pictured) was sentenced to two years’ jail and he is set to be deported back to Ireland after serving his time – likely at the end of 2025.
The magistrate described the matter as the worst family violence cases he had heard in a courtroom.
Porter was sentenced to two years’ jail and is expected to be deported back to Ireland at the end of 2025 after serving his sentence.
Ms Kramer and her young family have since left Benalla.
She urged others facing a similar situation to not be afraid to ask for help.
‘I resisted for such a long time and made things much harder for myself, they’re there to help,’ Ms Kramer said.
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