...where the message that it's a violent crime which shouldn't be tolerated, got lost.
I'm presuming this situation was a result of a domestic violence incident, although there could be another explanations to the way I've read between the lines.
I was walking towards the local Spar shop at 1.30 yesterday afternoon with my 2 YO DD, who was walking but saying she was tired. I stopped to put her in her pushchair and could see one of our neighbours who works at the Spar with an 18/19 YO girl talking to a woman on the ground.
The woman on the ground had a wet patch on her trousers, as if she'd sat in a puddle, and I could see her face was red, like really sunburnt from the distance I was at.
As I got closer our neighbour was finishing off talking to the woman, who was now standing, and we walked off from the woman together, leaving the younger woman with her.
When I was up close I could see the red was actually blood, because her face had been beaten to a pulp, literally. She had new bruises, really blue and coming up, with blood streaming down her nose, and I think the wet patch was her wetting herself.
I asked my neighbour if the police had been called, and she said the woman was pissed and when asked about the police said 'what would be the point?'. The neighbour then said she didn't know whether it was her business or not (not in an offhand uncompassionate way, but more questioning her take on the situation IYSWIM), and I said it definitely was judging by the state of her face. I was looking back all the time (a few meters away) and a man was helping her into a house, the neighbour said 'Oh, XXXX (mans name) is taking her in', and the neighbour started answering questions from other people at the Spar, so I walked off.
I can't get the woman's face out of my head, wondering how she's doing and what happened after I left. To know there's a man living close by (these weren't injuries a woman could inflict) who could be capable of that in an afternoon, even though I'm not naive and know they look 'normal', is a horrible reminder of what goes on behind closed doors.
There are two things I keep thinking about -
-What does her not seeing the point of calling the police say? Whether it's because it's happened before and her telling them was useless, or whether she didn't think they could do anything to protect her, both lead to the police not being able to effectively deal with these types of crime.
-Also, why did the neighbour wonder whether she'd be justified in ignoring the crime, weighing up whether it was any of her business? If it were an older person being punched to the extent this woman was she wouldn't have hesitated in calling them. Could the way it happened not being how some people see as a 'typical' DV incident (i.e. at night, inside etc) have skewed the neighbours judgement of what to do and made her question herself?
Sorry if it's long and the point isn't very clear, I was just surprised at my own shock seeing her face and of the significance such a small space of time can have. I know what it feels like to get a thrashing so I've seen it in the mirror, but it seemed worse somehow seeing it on someone else.