Sally’s story
A woman receives a fair financial settlement allowing her and her children to rebuild their lives after her violent husband burns down their house and takes his own life.
Issues
Sally married Peter in 1985 and they had three children together.
Early in the marriage Peter started to assume complete control of Sally and would not allow her to go out independently. All of Sally’s earnings throughout the marriage were taken by Peter who did not allow Sally to have any money of her own. Sally lost contact with her family as they disapproved of her marriage and Peter had little respect for them.
Peter was extremely violent to Sally throughout their marriage and Sally had two intervention orders against him. Peter drank excessively, which escalated the abuse further. The violence culminated in Peter setting fire to the family home in mid 2013, while Sally and the children were asleep inside. Peter committed suicide in late 2013.
After Peter’s death Sally was left having to reestablish herself and rebuild a house for her and her children. Sally was unable to receive significant assistance to rebuild the house from the insurance company as the damage was caused by the policy holder himself. As a result she was left with Peter’s funeral expenses and no funds to replace items lost in the house fire. In addition an interim award of victims of crime assistance was refused, leaving her with no financial means to pay for basic necessities.
Resolution
Sally first came to WLSV for assistance in 2012 and returned after the house was burnt down in 2013. Despite Sally having been refused an interim award of victims of crime assistance, WLSV was able to assist Sally to obtain an award on the basis of “exceptional circumstances”. The money Sally received helped her to rebuild a life for herself and her children.
Sally and her three children are now looking forward to a family holiday, which they hope will help to bring back a sense of normality to their lives.