I think I can answer that here, without personal details, and simply. When a woman marries, she is vulnerable. She places all of her trust, her well-being, her health, her future, her emotions, and of course her love, in the hands of another. That is an immense amount of trust. The ultimate betrayal is death by your partner's hand. Domestic abuse is horrible and life changing, but death by spouse is domestic violence of the worst kind.
This case has been difficult for me. Of course I did not die, I was not physically incapacitated. There was physical abuse - kicks, slaps, punches. But the hurts, the emotional scars scab over but don't heal well. Some still fester. But death? The physical abuse was escalating. I don't think I actually considered he could have killed me until some of the questions that were asked me in deposition about the position of his hands on my neck, I just knew I wanted the pain to stop. He was quite a bit larger than me. The Cooper domestic violence was of the worst kind, yes. Nancy is dead. Her trust was betrayed by the one who was to accept it from her and protect her.
