SHAH ALAM - Stepped on and slapped till her legs cracked and her eardrums burst, that was the unimaginable nightmare a woman who had to go throughout her 25-year marriage to her ex-husband.
Za, a 49-year-old woman said she was frequently a victim of her partner's inability to control his wrath. Za who hails from Rompin said every request and order from her husband had to be carried out in an instant and without error
"I remember helping my ex-husband sell nasi lemak one time when he was in the business."
"But because I refused, I was severely beaten," she said.
"Not only that, but if someone makes a mistake or is late for something, I am injured up to my feet, with cracked and torn eardrums."
The private sector employee also said that their children are victims of their father's volatile temper.
Za recounted how her ex-husband used to hit his eldest son's stomach, who was 12 years old at the time, till he vomited blood due to a little error.
"I'm sometimes the one protecting the children from becoming victims of ny husband's hot temper, and I'm also affected by his temper," she explained.
Za stated that she was also mentally abused
"My ex-husband once asked me for a bank loan of up to ten thousand ringgit to invest in stocks, but I refused because it didn't make sense."
"But he didn't give up, and he did psychologically abuse me."
He kept on swearing and becoming upset virtually every day till I had to give up.
"I still remember him saying that he would torture me mentally and physically," she added.
Za then resolved to leave her husband as she could not stand his abusive behavior.
"Even though my ex-husband was not at home, we occasionally tend to hear his shouts and screams, as if he was still there."
"My children and I agreed that if people become angry or raise their voices, it will relive the old trauma."
"The abuse really hurt our souls until I became depressed," she explained.
However she is grateful that since obtaining treatment and therapy at a hypnotherapy centre, she is gradually forgetting the horror.
"Thank God, I can now forget about it," she said.