“I WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A SL@VE…” – DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVOR SHARES HER CHILLING STORY AS AUSTRALIA FACES ANOTHER WEEK OF ALLEGED K!LLINGS.

‘I knew I’d end up on the news’: Domestic violence survivor’s warning as Australia confronts another week of alleged killings

‘I might as well have had a collar and a lead on. He took my bank cards, my phone, wiped my social media. From then on, I basically needed permission to breathe.’

WARNING: Graphic Content

Australia has been confronted by another alleged domestic violence death in Central Queensland as a survivor warns the country has become “resigned” to women dying.

A mother, whose husband is serving time for aggravated assault and sexual assault, says she spent years “justifying the unjustifiable” as coercive control slowly took over her life.

“You see it in movies and on every cop show and yet, when you see similarities in real life, you try to justify it,” she told 7NEWS.com.au.

“I spent years shrugging my shoulders — he’s tired, he’s frustrated, he wanted something else for dinner.”

She says the man she married “wasn’t angry or violent”, describing early years of affection, shared routines and emotional closeness.

But after they married, she says the shift was slow and deliberate — comments about housework, monitoring her spending, checking their shared account daily.

“It started little by little, he wasn’t a cartoonish monster” she said.

“Then it was questioning groceries, fuel, everything before I realised he was watching everything I was doing.”

Her warning comes during a week in which police allege Lavanya Chappa, Jana Armstrong, 13‑year‑old Layla Jeffery, and a 17‑year‑old girl from Galiwin’ku were killed by men or boys known to them.

Armstrong’s former partner has been charged with her murder.

On Wednesday, Central Queensland police launched an investigation into the death of a 32‑year‑old woman in Rockhampton after her body was found during a welfare check in the CBD.

The domestic violence survivor told 7NEWS.com.au it was like a “slow moving tsunami” and that she went from being a dependent woman who had everything to nothing more than “a slave”.

“I might as well have had a collar and a lead on,” she said.

“He took my bank cards, my phone, wiped my social media. From then on, I basically needed permission to breathe.”

After their son was born, she says the violence escalated — holes punched in walls, doors ripped off hinges, her dog kicked out of the way.

“I had nothing. No phone, no money. I was only allowed out twice a day to take my son for a walk,” she said.

The first physical assault happened when she returned to work — the first and last time she said she ever spoke back to him.

She said her ex was mad because he couldn’t contact her — despite her being on her way home after work and picking up their son from care and her husband still having her phone.

“He punched me in the face for speaking back to him. That’s when I knew I had to think smarter,” she said.

For six months, she says she stopped covering bruises and injuries as her husband’s abuse worsened and he formed a strange narrative if anyone close to them questioned it.

“Six months of swollen eyes, limping — and no one said anything. They believed the lie that I was clumsy,” she said.

“I represented my country in sport, I was an outdoorsy person who had never injured herself in my life, and they all just believed that I somehow tripped because I was tired because I had a baby.”

The survivor knew it was not going to end well and didn’t think anyone would be brave enough to “hold him accountable”.

That was until a new work colleague helped her plan an escape, organising a phone, bank account and police support.

“I left work early, grabbed my son and went straight to police. I was terrified he’d put a tracker in my car,” she said.

“I knew it in my gut, that once I reported it, I would be running for my life, because if he caught me, I would be one of the woman portrayed on the news killed by yet another man.

“He told me he was going to kill me, and I still believe it to this day.”

She was granted an intervention order. Her husband denied wrongdoing.

Over a year later, in 2025, her husband was sentenced to seven years behind bars for various assaults, rape and coercion over a period of just over two-and-a-half years.

But the survivor told 7NEWS.com.au that although her husband is locked away, she fears for her son who might’ve witnessed or overheard the violence in the home.

“You get kids growing up watching Sesame Street, Bluey and being happy children,” she said.

“But my son only heard screams, walls being caved in, dishes smashed and things a child shouldn’t have to hear.”

Government funding up and down across Australia

While Queensland confirmed a $40 million cut to domestic violence prevention programs and NSW services warn more than half of women seeking crisis shelter are turned away, Victoria remains one of the few jurisdictions still increasing investment across the system — not just in crisis support for victim‑survivors, but in courts and justice responses.

The latest Victorian Budget includes $74 million for frontline family violence responses such as crisis accommodation and case management, $23 million to continue perpetrator risk‑assessment systems, and $347 million for justice measures aimed at ensuring consequences for violent offenders.

A further $774 million will expand the Social Housing Growth Fund, supporting more than 7,000 new homes and helping keep vulnerable women and children out of homelessness.

In NSW, more than half of women seeking crisis accommodation are turned away due to capacity limits. Advocates say chronic underfunding is leaving women and children at risk.

‘A national emergency’: advocate says male silence is costing lives

Anti‑violence advocate Kon Karapanagiotidis OAM and CEO of Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said Australia is facing “a national emergency” — one he argues male leaders have failed to confront.

“Male violence against women is a men’s issue and every man has a positive role to play,” he said.

He says prevention must focus on boys and men, teaching respect, consent and healthy gender norms — not telling women how to stay safe.

“In a week where two women and two girls were murdered, Queensland announced a $40 million cut to DV services,” he said.

He says the national response to male violence against women is starkly different to other forms of violence.

“If two women and two girls were killed by men claiming political motives, we’d have anti‑terror units on the streets and the PM addressing the nation. But this is apparently just another week in Australia.”

“More women have been killed by male violence since 2020 than all Australians killed by shark attacks, terrorism and one‑punch attacks combined in the last 25 years.”

Karapanagiotidis says 224 women have been killed since January 2024.

“That outrage and urgency is not there. How can we stomach women dying? I sure as hell can’t — not one more woman.”

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission was approached for comment.