Eleanor Doyle

I could just see my whole life flash before my eyes.

My whole life.

I could see my whole life flash before my eyes and next thing I can just remember when the hand left my neck and I just went and I took a breath and I actually thought that night I was going to die.

I really thought that night that it was going to be curtains.

I can remember another time, like I was at the bottom of the stairs and my son, like nine years of age, was pulling a grown man off of me.

And I had to run to the car because I thought he was going to kill me.

And I got into the car and he jumped on the front of the windscreen and held on to it.

And I have no denying it, I drove the car out of the estate because I was so petrified and he was still on the windscreen of the car.

And actually...

a friend of ours was on the way into the estate coming to us and it was I'd say when he saw him he went shit he's going to see this and jumped off the car and only for that he wouldn't have you know I'm kind of telling the story in a very roundabout way but it's just difficult to remember things and I'm trying to be as honest as I can but

Yeah, so then he was gone from the house or whatever and I couldn't get a borrowing order because he was gone from the house.

So I had to get a safety and protection order.

So I felt we all had suffered enough of abuse at home but it didn't end there because we were abused by the judicial system as well.

Like I got on to a fabulous solicitor and that was fine.

It went through the court proceedings.

But at all times it was like, but he is their father, he is their father.

And I never denied that.

Like, we'll say the kids were afraid of him.

So when we eventually did get him out of the house, they didn't want to visit him.

And I just said, lads, you know, look, we'll have to try.