*Wife chronicles how her husband rap*d her several times
My story starts like a lot of people’s stories. I had a whirlwind
romance and married a man I put all my trust in. We had a happy marriage
for a few years, and then we began to drift apart. Our lives were
consumed by everyday events — children, school, work, sports — which
meant we were a typical married couple working on raising a family and
living a normal life.
Seven years into our marriage...
I started having
memory and fatigue issues. Strange things would happen to me and I
couldn’t remember how. One night, I woke up with a dissolving pill in my
mouth. I had no recollection of taking a pill and was very
confused. Another night I woke up with my clothes off. That was strange,
since I wear clothes when I sleep and could not remember taking them
off. I began to worry that I was sleepwalking.
I was also experiencing a weird taste when I slept. It was very bitter,
like that lingering awfulness in your mouth when you don’t get an
aspirin down in the first swallow. After a while, I started tasting the
same thing in my drinks. I thought there was something seriously wrong
with me.
One night, I
woke up to my husband standing over me with something strange in one
hand and a flashlight, shining in my face, with the other. As he
scurried away he tried to hide something under the mattress. After a
physical confrontation, I was able to retrieve what was hidden. Under
the mattress was a vial with a cloudy liquid inside. I asked what it was
and what was he doing with it. He admitted that he had been dissolving
Xanax and/or Ambien and administering it to me while I slept. Of course I
asked why and he told me he thought I needed the drugs so I could get
more sleep. Confused, I begged him to stop. He agreed to stop and I
trusted that he would.
Over the next
few years, I caught him multiple times administering the same white
cloudy liquid to me. I confronted him over and over again, pleading for
him to stop. He always had a way to make me believe that he would stop,
that he was just looking out for my best interest.
One day, my
husband left his phone at home. I had had suspicions that maybe he was
involved in something shady so I decided to investigate. I found
something on that phone that would change my life forever: video taken
by my husband of him having s*x with me while I was passed out cold.
There were three videos in total and in each one I looked like I was
dead. I panicked.
How did I not know this was happening to me? How did I not wake up when this was going on? I couldn’t wake up! I had been drugged with the white cloudy liquid that my husband administered to me countless times before.
He would give me such a large amount of the drug that I would pass out
and not wake up, for any reason. I was in a deep, drug-induced sleep.
How many times had this happened? I had no idea. I was so disgusted,
confused and afraid. I had always known that something wasn’t right, but
I never had any proof until now.
I kept a copy of
the videos and confronted my husband. He acted like he had done nothing
wrong and then he somehow manipulated me into believing that no one
would believe me, even with the video. Very soon we were divorced. He
moved out and away from me. Even though I could move on with my life, I
always felt like I should do something, tell someone, let the world know
that this extremely messed-up thing happened to me. I tried to shake
those feelings off and concentrate on moving on. I would read self-help
books, go to support groups and see a counselor regularly.
One day, my son
and daughter were supposed to go with their father for their weekend
visit. My son would be gone most of the visit on a school trip and my
daughter would have been left by herself with her father. All of a
sudden, I felt like my brain opened up and I finally realized that what
my husband did to me was 100% wrong. If he could do something that
horrific and horrible to his own wife, then he could do it to anyone,
including my daughter. It was then I knew that I needed to turn him in
to the police for what he had done. He needed to be exposed for the
monster that he was.
I turned the
copy of the video I had into the police and told them my story. For the
next three years, I fought this man who I once trusted. I had to fight
him in the criminal court for his disgusting acts toward me and also in
civil court over my children.
Finally in the
spring of last year, the jury trial came to an end: my husband was
convicted of six Class B felonies, including rape and criminal deviant
conduct.
I was finally
free — free of his lies, his manipulation and his dark cloud. I could
finally move on knowing that I would be safe. This man could not hurt me
or my children. Or so I thought.
Two weeks later
was his sentencing hearing — and we received the biggest shock of the
trial. Although he was convicted of those six felonies, he would not
spend any time in jail. He would be put under house arrest, essentially
free and able to live on without going to prison.
How could that be? How could someone be convicted of such crimes and not serve any time in prison?
And while the
judge was giving the gift of no prison time to my ex, he told me that my
ex may have been a crappy husband, but he was a good father and that I
should “forgive him.”
WHAT?!
Excuse me, sir.
This man rap*d me multiple times over many years. Rap* doesn’t make him a
crappy husband — it makes him a criminal.
I was
devastated. I could not believe that one judge could destroy all the
hope that I had that justice would be served. I went into a deep
depression and tried to hold on to the hope that I would be able to move
on and live my life unafraid. No such luck.
I have come
forward to tell my story to highlight the issue of marital rap*. My case
brought up lots of conversation about the law, and whether or not
marital rap* is illegal. It is, in all 50 states. Some people, like
Donald Trump’s lawyer, seem disbelieving. Some people wonder,
understandably, how can a man rape his wife. My story tells you how.
Regardless of your marital status with regard to your rap*st, if there
is no consent, it is rap*. When a person is convicted of rap*, they
should receive a sentence that fits that crime. Unfortunately, in my
state, rap*sts’ sentences are handed down by judges who can decide how
harsh — or not harsh at all — they will be.
Today, I am
still trying to overcome the depression that comes with the shame and
disgust that I feel when those videos pop into my head. I try every day
to stay positive and to achieve something toward my goal of changing the
way people view rap*, and especially marital rap*. I need to make sure
that this story is heard by other women in similar situations. Maybe
they will find the courage like I did to come forward, and to make sure
their attacker is held accountable for their actions.
If I can
continue to bring the issue of marital rap* to the forefront of
conversation, then maybe I can help make changes in sentencing laws for
convicted rap*sts. If my story helps one person, it is a story worth
telling.
Written by Mandy Boardman
is a mother and a small-business owner.
NOTE: This
woman failed to tell us how many times her husband had tried to have
s*x with her legitimately but she refused and claimed "I am not in the
mood". I remember a white man once released a calendar showing all the
days his own wife refused him s*x and he marked them on the calendar. In
some months she didn't allow him sleep with her more than twice.
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