‘Yes.’
‘Made you welcome?’
What can she say but ‘Yes.’
‘You thought Mrs Tennyson had been assaulted, but the only basis for that was a conversation you’d had four years earlier when she made unsubstantiated allegations about Mr Tennyson. Is it fair to say you were making an assumption this time?’
‘Yes,’ Rebecca says coldly, her jaw rigid.
‘You might have been mistaken, might you?’ says Miss Dixon.
‘Yes.’
‘Your assumption could have been wrong, couldn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Rebecca says dully. She has given up.
‘You never raised your concerns with anyone, did you?’
‘No.’
‘No,’ Miss Dixon echoes, ‘Did the deceased ever tell you she had reason to fear her husband, to fear for her life?’
‘No,’ says Rebecca.
‘On the contrary, Mrs Tennyson strenuously denied all your suggestions that she had been subjected to any violence. Isn’t that true?’
Rebecca glares at the lawyer but answers, ‘Yes.’ It’s like watching someone being eviscerated. Miss Dixon is a hyena, tearing the heart and lungs, liver and lights from Rebecca’s testimony.
‘Did she ever tell you she loved Jack Tennyson?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’d lost your best friend to a new relationship, to marriage. She had committed herself to her husband. Did you feel excluded?’
‘No,’ Rebecca says.
‘Jealous?’
‘No,’ she protests.
‘Mrs Tennyson didn’t return your calls. Perhaps you blamed Mr Tennyson for the growing distance between you?’ says Miss Dixon.
‘That’s rubbish.’ Rebecca’s face glows red again.
‘A simple yes or no will suffice.’
‘No,’ sounding churlish, almost matching the picture Miss Dixon is painting of a jealous friend out to make trouble for you, the loving husband.
‘Do you not find it strange that no one, absolutely no one, not the deceased’s mother or father, her other friends, her colleagues at work, her GP, not one of them ever heard any whisper of domestic violence in the relationship?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you not find it strange that you are the only person who did? And that though Mrs Tennyson allegedly,’ the word sounds like a sneer, ‘told you about an incident more than four years earlier, she never shared any details about it with you, not what Mr Tennyson did or where she was hurt, and you saw not one shred of physical evidence to support her allegations? Is that not strange?’
‘Maybe.’ Rebecca juts her chin out, and stammers, ‘But it is the truth.’
Miss Dixon lets the silence stretch out so all we hear is the tremulous quality of Rebecca’s final answer, then the barrister says, ‘Thank you.’
By the time Rebecca leaves the witness box, the seeds of doubt are well and truly sown.
Ruth
CHAPTER FIVE
17 Brinks Avenue
Manchester
M19 6FX
The final prosecution witness is a psychologist. Mr Cromer explains that Dr Nerys Martinez is an expert witness who will be here to shed light on the area of domestic violence, which is a key part of the prosecution case.
Dr Martinez is a small, trim, dark-skinned woman; her accent has a French lilt to it.
‘You have been involved in a number of studies into the phenomenon of domestic violence?’ Mr Cromer says.
‘Yes.’
‘Isn’t the violence simply a result of someone losing control of their temper?’
‘Not at all. Abuse is usually planned, prepared for. The abuser has no difficulty managing his temper at work, say, or with friends.’
‘In the research you have conducted, if a person has physically assaulted their spouse on one occasion, how likely is it that they will go on to do it again?’
‘Extremely likely. The incidence of sole assaults that are never repeated is almost unheard of,’ Dr Martinez says.
‘And can you tell us why a victim of abuse might hide what was happening from close friends and family?’
‘Certainly. If you’ll allow me first to outline the familiar pattern of abuse and violence. Abuse is about power and control. The abuser uses threats or violence to dominate their partner. An outbreak of violence is typically followed by the abuser exhibiting guilt; he will apologize, but he will also offer excuses to explain his behaviour. Commonly a period of normality follows and the majority of victims hope that the abuser will be able to keep his promise not to do it again. This honeymoon phase is followed by the abuser fantasizing about repeating the abuse. Planning it. He will engineer a situation that creates the right circumstances for him to attack his partner. Because abuse is about power, about domination, the person on the receiving end is made to feel culpable; the abuser will accuse them of deliberately doing something to trigger the violence. The reality is that the abuser wishes to exert his domination and to do this through violence, and he will construct a situation to make that happen. In the period of regret and promises, the person suffering from the violence wishes to believe the abuser. Their self-esteem is severely undermined. They are anxious that if only they do X and Y they will be safe. They will find excuses for the behaviour of their partner. Recognizing the situation for what it is, admitting it, is a very difficult step. Asking for help even harder. So in the majority of cases the victim conceals the situation as much as they can.’
‘Women will typically suffer many instances of violence before seeking help? Am I correct?’ says Mr Cromer.
‘That’s right.’
‘Would we not expect a man who does this to be a violent person in general?’
‘No. Abusers choose who to abuse, and where and how, so that the abuse is hidden. They will hit the victim in places where bruises won’t show. Research shows that they are capable of switching off violent behaviour if anyone else is present. The abusers are not out of control; indeed they are very much in control.’ This surprises me, but it helps explain how you got away with it: you focused your violence on Lizzie; none of the rest of us ever witnessed your aggression.
‘And the scenario of a woman confiding in a friend that her husband has abused her, and begging her to keep it quiet, of this victim not having visible bruises or injuries, does that ring true?’
‘Yes, it’s very common,’ says Dr Martinez.
‘And explaining to her confidante that her husband had problems with work that made him short-tempered and led to his violence – that’s plausible?’
‘Yes, stresses around work are often given as excuses.’
‘Excuses, not reasons,’ says Mr Cromer.
‘That’s correct. The stresses are real enough but the perpetrator does not hit anyone else; only his spouse, the one person who he believes he can dominate and control and who is unlikely to report him,’ says Dr Martinez.
‘If we accept, for the sake of argument, that Mrs Tennyson was being violently beaten by her husband, how would you account for her silence, her denials when her friend suspected domestic violence last summer?’
‘Denial and a “behind closed doors” approach is endemic with this behaviour. Lizzie Tennyson may have feared her husband and feared what would happen if she told anyone, even her close friend, about the violence. It is textbook typical behaviour of a victim in this situation. The victim is walking on eggshells.’
‘If I’ve understood you correctly, low self-esteem, a sense of being partly responsible for the violence and feelings of shame and fear might prevent a victim from disclosing what is happening to her?’ says Mr Cromer.
‘Yes,’ she says.
‘You have described to us the fact that the man can control his violence and plans his attacks, but the assault on the victim in this case was uncontrolled, and fatal. Isn’t that a contradiction?’
‘We usually see a pattern of escalation in the violence, and there are situations where the man abandons his attempts to conceal what he is doing and gives in to his desire to dominate in the most extreme way possible.’