Living in fear of your ex: “I sleep with a knife under my pillow”

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Karie and her daughter Isabelle were sexually assaulted by the same man. Today, they are calling on Ministers Dubé and Jolin-Barrette about the lack of help provided to victims.

Isabelle endures a night of horror. Her stepfather makes advances towards her, gets her drunk, then takes around twenty photos of the unconscious young girl in degrading positions. When she wakes up, she calls her mother Karine. The one who dated the man for more than 9 years immediately believed her. She too endured his abuse.

“I lived with my ex-partner for almost 9 and a half years. It was the cycle of violence. It started with psychological violence, then physical violence, then all kinds of violence, sexual assault, but I never thought he would attack anyone other than me, again less to one of my children,” she lamented.

The fear did not stop at the courthouse doors.

“Currently, I still sleep with a knife under my pillow,” Karine confided. For a long time I slept next to my phone with 911 already programmed. I have to put myself to sleep with medication, otherwise I have nightmares.”

Mother and daughter agreed to allow the journalist from 24 Heures, Mathieu Carbasse, to follow them for more than a year to document their legal journey and recount their attempts at reconstruction. An extremely laborious journey: more than three years of court proceedings, $150,000 spent in legal fees and total vagueness regarding the procedure as a victim. Isabelle gets psychological help after 5 months of battle… and a suicide attempt.