Mum whose abusive husband called her ‘Porky’ thought she would die when he flew into a rage and URINATED on her when she refused to have sex with him
- Janine Priestley spent 27 years enduring the cruelty her ex-husband flung at her
- He called her fat, useless and told her she was a terrible mother on a daily basis
- She had plates thrown at her and was slapped. He tossed a glass table at her
- Breaking point was when he urinated on her after refusing to have sex with him
A mother-of-two has shared her harrowing story of surviving domestic abuse at the hands of her first love who called her ‘Porky’ and urinated on her during fits of rage.
Janine Priestley spent 27 years enduring the cruelty her ex-husband flung at her on a daily basis at their home Paskeville, South Australia. He called her fat and useless and told her she was a terrible mother.
The breaking point came when her then-husband returned home from a party late one night and tried to have sex with her. When she refused he urinated on her.
Janine Priestley (pictured) spent 27 years enduring the cruelty her ex-husband flung at her on a daily basis at their home Paskeville, South Australia. He called her fat and useless and told her she was a terrible mother
The next day he was still fuming and launched into a brutal attack in front of their twin daughters, Amy and Ashley.
‘He came around the table and picked me up and threw me down to the ground. He straddled me and grabbed my hair. I thought this is it, this is going to be it,’ she told The Australian.
‘He pulled my head back and he was about to smash it into the floor. My girls were screaming at him. They were screaming at him to stop.’
Ms Priestley and her daughter eventually fled and got help from the police.
Her husband was arrested and was jailed for assaulting her. The pair have now divorced.
Ms Priestley has shared her story in the hopes of inspiring others to speak up and get help.
‘The problem is, women are too scared to tell their story, but we’ve got to get it out there.’
Ms Priestley had been friends with her abuser in high school and they began dating when they were just 18.
The abuse had started slowly, Ms Priestly said. The first few years of the relationship were good for the high school sweethearts.
Ms Priestley (pictured with her daughter) has shared her story in the hopes of inspiring others to speak up and get help
But problems escalated as the years went on and Ms Priestly found she was being isolated and verbally harassed by the age of 21.
And she knew it would only get worse.
‘I looked back at one of my early journals from 1991 and I’d written in there: ‘It won’t be long before he’s hitting me,’ she told the ABC.
It was when the pair moved away from Adelaide to Paskeville, a rural town with a population of 200, that the physical abuse started.
He threw plates at her and slapped her. He once tossed a glass table towards her.
Under the stress and torment Ms Priestley started to gain weight. If she dropped a dress size he would accuse her of cheating.
She began to find it hard not to see herself through her husband’s eyes. However, that all changed once she escaped him.
She competed in the strength competition Static Monsters last year and was ranked 16th in the world for masters women.
She is now in a happy and healthy relationship with a man who tells her how beautiful she is.