It has been three months since Latitia Fraser feared for her life at the hands of her former partner.
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The 22-year-old is reminded of the horrifying incident every day, experiencing flash backs when she lies down to sleep and constant pain in her neck, wrist and sternum.
"Every time I rest my head I remember that moment in my head, when I gave up all chance of making it through the assault alive and told whatever higher force there was that I was ready to die and to take me," Ms Fraser said in her victim impact statement at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
Ms Fraser's former partner Marcus Ellis was charged with recklessly engaging in conduct by strangulation that placed her in danger of death, intentionally causing injury, and recklessly causing injury on May 4 2019.
I remember looking up to the sky thinking this is it. I am dead.
- Latitia Fraser
Mr Ellis pleaded guilty to the charges at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday and was sentenced to two months in jail and a 24 community corrections order. He is appealing the sentence.
Defence lawyer Scott Belcher acknowledged a jail term was the starting point in sentencing his client, but argued against a jail term with submissions for a community corrections order given his client's young age and lack of criminal history.
Ms Fraser said she wanted to share her story to help other women realise they do not have to suffer in silence.
LATITIA'S STORY
Ms Fraser grew up on a farm in Clunes and attended high school in Ballarat. Around two years ago she entered a relationship with Mr Ellis.
"At the time he was the best thing that had ever happened," Ms Fraser said.
"He treated me with respect, he would do anything for me, he was the most amazing guy I had ever met."
The couple lived together on an isolated property in Buninyong and Ms Fraser worked three jobs in Ballarat.
Soon she began noticing red flags and emotional abuse in the relationship.
"He would drink 12 stubbies a night. I had to be at a certain place at a certain time, I had to help him out all the time and I couldn't do my own things because I had to be there for him," Ms Fraser said.
"If the littlest thing wasn't right at home then all hell would break loose. He would do that but then he would be so good at other times and when I weighed it up I kept thinking 'he is fine, it is going to be fine'."
Ms Fraser said the alcohol and abuse worsened and she began planning a way to leave the relationship.
"I had been planning to get out for months but I had to break the lease and find somewhere to go," she said.
"One night he got on the piss and abused me because I wasn't helping him with the ute and he just drove off and was sending abusive messages. That was it. I told him he had to leave."
Yet to break the lease, Ms Fraser remained at the Buninyong house while Mr Ellis stayed elsewhere.
She said he continued contacting her and would be waiting at her car when she finished work.
Three weeks later on May 4 he visited the house, physically assaulted her and strangled her, placing her in danger of death.
"I blacked out about two times. He had my head in between his legs and his hands around my neck. I remember looking up to the sky thinking 'this is it, I am dead," she said.
Ms Fraser's mother, police and ambulance arrived after the incident and she spent the next two nights in hospital with bruising, swelling, abrasions, cuts, scratches and petechiae (tiny spots caused by bleeding under the skin) all over her body, as detailed in a forensic medical report.
Emotionally I am probably never going to be the same ever again.
- Latitia Fraser
"I still have bruises. I can't use my left wrist. I can't open doors, I can't cook because I drop things. I still have pain in my sternum every morning. I get dizzy all the time. I can't eat properly. This is three months later and I am still in pain and that is just physically," Ms Fraser said.
"Emotionally I am probably never going to be the same ever again. I trusted him. We were planning a life together. I can't visit my family at the farm. I drive out there and I have panic attacks. I try to see my friends and I have panic attacks. I just keep thinking he is going to get me. He will go to prison for two months, but when he is out what is stopping him?
"I think, I am alive, I survived, there is a reason I survived. I am going to do what I can, I am going to have a good life. I am going to be the person I was at some point. It will just be years and years of therapists and understanding I am going to have those triggers, I am going to have those panic attacks, that it will always be in the back of my mind and I will always be freaked out. I hope one day it will all go away, it is just a matter of when."
Ms Fraser said support from police, family violence service Berry Street and her family had been amazing, but the incident had impacted her family, friends and workplace too.
"I want people to realise there is support out there and that you can get out. Even with emotional abuse, I was trying to get out for so long, if I had have known there was so much of this support around I would have been out ages ago," she said.
"I am lucky I had my friends and family but even if I didn't there are so many support networks out there. I just want to do what I can so no one is put in the position I was. I want people to not be afraid to tell their story. It is okay that it happened to them because it is not their fault. It is never their fault that something like this happened and I just want them to know that. I want people to realise they don't have to suffer in silence."
Thirty women have been killed in Australia this year in alleged relationship violence deaths, according to Impact for Women.
Australian Institute of Criminology data shows one woman a week is killed by her former partner.
The Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence recommended the existing focus on crisis response be matched by a focus on prevention, early intervention and recovery.
"There is a need to implement primary prevention strategies that are designed to dismantle harmful attitudes towards women, promote gender equality and encourage respectful relationships," the report said.
- If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- How the system failed this grandmother after a lifetime of family violence
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- 'He was choking her on the bed': 14-year-old shares her experience of family violence
- Specialist family violence training held for police, court and support agencies
- Three years on from the Royal Commission into Family Violence we all have a part to play
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