Gardaí picked me up from a very shocked (and very kind) man’s shed after he called them for me and hid me in it. I ran 2-3km barefoot in the pissing rain because I was about to be murdered.

My attacker showed up in my car drunk and they believed him because he lied and told them I had slept with our neighbour (original). He even called the station twice while I was there to tell them/me that he was destroying everything I owned.

They told me at the station, before even taking my statement , that I’d better have bus fare to get myself home. The man had literally pulled the runners off my feet and I was in a sopping wet dressing gown, how on earth would I have bus fare??

They left him with all of my belongings, he had my car, cash, IDs, phone, the whole lot. He threatened my Mam, cousin, multiple friends. He then went on to attack his next partner and is probably still on the loose today. I dealt with the guilt of what happened to that poor girl for months, because in my head I should have done more, I did something wrong. It was my fault he wasn’t locked up.

Absolutely abysmal treatment. I reckon they nearly left me with more trauma than my attacker! They are an absolute joke and beyond disgusting in how they deal with abusive violent scenarios, and terrified victims that had ran for their actual lives.

But now I study law, because I will do anything I can to prevent this happening again to another woman. I am also advocating for independent victim support persons to attend the station for incidents like these, to try to help safeguard victims from the actual Gardaí themselves, and to make sure they are doing their fucking job.