Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Man abused by his fiancée


After his fiancée Michelle Williamson was sent to jail for 7 years, Ian McNichol told the Sun about the 12 months he was abused by her. Ian and Michelle met in a taxi and moved in together within a year, but then Michelle started to abuse Ian. She poured boiling water in his lap, burned him with cigarettes, hit him with different objects and burnt his skin with an iron. Ian said that he was too victimised to think clearly. He was afraid to tell people about the domestic violence because he thought that people would not believe him. After full year of abuse the police received an anonymous phone call from a neighbour about it. Michelle was arrested and has been sentenced to prison for 7 years, leaving Ian, physically, emotionally and financially devastated, behind.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/article2411968.ece

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Many people think that in domestic violence, women are always the victim. This article proves that men can be the victim of abuse too. Michelle compensated her physical disadvantage with her mental strength and the use of an iron, boiling water, cigarettes and other objects. In a side column to this article Mark Brooks, chairman of The Mankind Institute, says that 1 out of 5 men is abused by a partner or family member at least once in his life. I think abuse towards men is a taboo, as Ian said, he was afraid that people would not believe him. The media should pay more attention to these stories to help men that are in this situation be more open about it.

2 comments:

  1. I think it is unacceptable that things as abusing can happen. Almost everybody thinks only women are victims of abusing, because most men, who abuse their wife or girlfriend, can use their strenght. But offcourse, also men can be victims of abusing. I think it should be mentioned more in media because many people do not think these things can happen

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  2. I agree that many people think that women are always the victim in domestic violence, but that is not true. There are many men who are being abused by their female partners, but they feel to ashamed to tell anyone, like Ian. In the past it also happened that when men went to the police they did not take these kind of stories seriously, because they could not imagine that men could be abused by females. They thought they were weak and ridiculous. I think there are still many men who are afraid to admit abuse and that is also why it looks like females are victims more often.

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