Tuesday 19 July 2011

Sorry, But This Isn’t A Business Responsibility…

A woman, who was savagely beaten by her husband and held prisoner in the loft of her own home, has said more needs to be done to help victims of domestic abuse.
Oh, do tell?

Zara Bell, 26, was repeatedly beaten by her violent husband David Bell, also 26.

She was held captive in a tiny attic alongside her one-year-old daughter over a three-week period while her bodybuilder husband went out to the gym.
Held incommunicado for three weeks?

Well, no. It seems she was just locked up there for the duration of his gym visits, because she was – incredibly – allowed out to work.

We know this, because it’s her chief whinge:

Zara would repeatedly arrive for work covered in bruises, but bosses did nothing to help and instead sacked her because her bruises “put off customers”.
OK, sacking her was a bit much (though we've only Zara's word for that), but really, what was the point in showing the bruises to her employers and expecting them to do something about it?

What was stopping her from doing something about it herself?

She urged anyone who suspects a friend or colleague is suffering at the hands of a partner to listen and then report their concerns.

She said: “I would have welcomed someone in a position of authority, like my boss and employer, offering me help and telling me my husband was in the wrong and I didn’t have to put up with him. ”
Someone in authority needed to tell you this for you to believe it? You’re supposed to be an adult, for god’s sake! Act like it.

“If there is anyone out there who suspects their employee or colleague is being abused by their partner, then don’t be frightened to say something to them and offer them help.

“You could be the person who helps that victim get away from their situation.”
Or, they could. Think about it.

Of course, the bandwagon always has room on it for a passionate believer in the ‘It’s someone else’s responsibility!’ concept:

Lyn Headley, chief executive officer of the Basildon Women’s Aid, urged businesses to support staff if they go to police, or even logging details of injuries they come into work with if they are unwilling to report abuse.
For what possible purpose? And just how is the DPA going to cope with that one?


The mind boggles....

10 comments:

Mike said...

If this woman was beaten and stuff then your right Julia get out ney, GET OUT, take the kid if you can but just go.

I have been mulling for a few minuets this week about ?Clair's law? not sure if it is in fact Clair's or someone else's but essentially the right for women to go to the police to get the low down on blokes they might like to date, fuck, marry....whichwhatever. Does and will this extend to men? If someone wanted to shag Ms Brooks or whatever she calls herself could they ask the police how many of her previous partners she kicked shite out of?

Mike said...

on a lighter note me and a few buddies have been trying to cast the film of the saga that is News of the World the real story. We came up with Ronald McDonald or Mick Hucknal or Side Show Bob for Ms Rebekakakaka Brooks....any ideas?

Shinar's Basket Case said...

Its hard to disagree with the commentator who wrote "They don't owe her any duty of care for her own bad life choices..."

Sid Vicarious said...

One wouldn't want to infringe her human right to privacy and a family life.

Captain Haddock said...

She probably believes that its down to her bosses, colleagues or friends to breathe for her as well ..

And God alone knows who she expects to take responsibility for the evacuation of her bowels ..

Tattyfalarr said...

I'm sure these women have a million excuses for not leaving violent partners...and let's not forget this happens to men too...but the bottom line every single time is that you cannot help those that will not help themselves and it's always the children who suffer most.
...
If duty of care is owed to anyone it is to the children. For one, if the NSPCC spent less on marketing...let's face it child abuse isn't *hidden* problem anymore so no need for depictions of it on tv for the less imaginative amongst us...they might have some cash left over to actually DO something.
...
DV cases where children are witness should carry an extra charge and penalty for those convicted.

Anonymous said...

In feminist la-la land, if a woman ever gets herself into a bad situation, it's somebody else's fault. All the time.

Some women just want to be beaten, and choose to stay with abusive men. Fuck 'em, and stop wasting police time on them.

One fun fact about rape that the feminists don't really pass around much; only a minority of rapes are by strangers, most of them are by people the 'victim' knows. So a woman thinks it'll be great fun to hang out with a dodgy 'alpha male' bloke and ends up being raped. Good luck with that, and again, stop wasting the time of our already-overstretched police as a result of your own bad judgement.

ivan said...

It would appear that she was a good student in school where they teach that you must let someone in authority think for you and not do anything hard like thinking for yourself.

blueknight said...

I think most Police Forces have a domestic violence unit or something similar. She could have at least asked....

JuliaM said...

"Does and will this extend to men?"

Good point!

"Its hard to disagree with the commentator who wrote "They don't owe her any duty of care for her own bad life choices...""

Spot on! But there's more, as you'll see...

"... the bottom line every single time is that you cannot help those that will not help themselves and it's always the children who suffer most."

Exactly!

"It would appear that she was a good student in school where they teach that you must let someone in authority think for you and not do anything hard like thinking for yourself."

From 'the school of hard knocks' to 'the school where it's always someone else's fault'...