Robin Brewer, courts coordinator for the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, speaks to a domestic violence victim at the Hamilton County-Chattanooga Courts Building.PROTECTION ORDERSAn order of protection is a judicial order to keep abusers from being near their victim. An average of 552 orders of protection were filed each year in Hamilton County between 2007 and 2011, according to court data.For the same period, Knox County’s average was 2,493 and Davidson County’s was 852.A March study in Knox County showed that only 20 percent of domestic violence victims seek a protective order and half of the protective orders are violated by the abuser.
The first time he went to jail for beating her wasn’t the first time he had stood before a judge.
That first time in court wasn’t the first time she had called police on him, and the first time she called police on him wasn’t the first time he had hit her.
Over the 14 years of their marriage, he grew gradually more violent. At first she thought he was “Mr. Wonderful,” but over time the man broke her down, belittling her bit by bit. By the end of their first year of marriage, after she’d had his child, he already had hit her and choked her.
In the beginning, he would woo her back in tearful apologies. Later he started using threats. If she didn’t come back, he would kill her whole family.