Why Doesn't She Leave?...Ten Reasons

Why Doesn't She Leave? is a question repeatedly asked of women suffering domestic violence. Although there are a myriad of reasons, the author offers ten. Among these are prominent cases of either murder, murder/suicide, immolation, rape and assault, all of which occurred in the Manning Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The names have been changed but the author retains the records. No one can possibly understand the dilemma of those trapped by love of the perpetrator, devotion to children and the the proven 'slave mentality' brought about by the Stockholm Syndrome. I, the author of this book, have been associated for thirty years with 'Lyns Place',Taree, New South Wales, Women's Refuge, I have witnessed the results of all of the above. Horrific is a word that springs to mind but there is no word that really describes the terror that these women endured.What began as an archival chore became a voice for all of the women for whom Lyn's Place was a refuge!
When I first wrote this book I believed change was on the horizon. Not so. The Bureau of Statistics NSW provides little hope; three women a fortnight murdered. What about the collateral damage? Motherless children, trauma of the worst kind, hate, fear, despair, future prospects? Only when male dominated, authoritarian law enforcement agencies and governments acknowledge the depth of this attack on our civil society will we see change!