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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Who do I believe?

206 replies

JohnPrescottsPyjamas · 02/03/2022 11:00

Adult DS and GF have been together for 6 years. Met overseas and she has come back to live with him from another country. Always had a pretty good relationship with her although she can be a little sensitive over certain issues so have learnt to just be diplomatic. She is 32, 6 years older than him.

Hysterical phone call received from her last night telling me he had locked her out of their flat. She said they’d rowed earlier, she’d gone out in her car to walk the dog. When she got back, he wasn’t allowing her back in and not answering her calls. As she was safe, I suggested she just waited in the car until things perhaps cooled down and asked if she wanted me to try and call him to talk to him? She was adamant that wasn’t a good idea so I wasn’t quite sure why I was called.

She was sobbing, told me she was very scared of him and that he had a very nasty temper. This genuinely alarmed me as DS has always been seemed pretty chilled and unless he’s very good at deception, we could be talking about a totally different person. I asked if he had been violent and she told me he had once ‘punched’ her in the arm in the car when they were driving. Without being there, I have no idea what his version of events was and I’m actually very alarmed to think my DS might be treating women like this.

Whilst staying in the phone to me, she tried the door again and got straight in. I could hear her shouting at him for locking her out - he denied he did - clearly he didn’t know it was me on the other end of the phone and I could hear everything. He tried to apologise but she accused him of not meaning it. She made a great big deal out of it to him, keeping on and on. Surely, if she was frightened of him, she wouldn’t have continued to up the anti and be attempting to diffuse the situation?

She regularly goes back to her home country alone to her family. Her and DS have no children, I own the property they are living in and apart from DS she has no ties to this country. If he was that controlling or scary, why does she keep come back or am I in denial about my DS?

I posted on here 18 months ago about a dog saga too. She acquired this part German Shepherd puppy, despite my DS not wanting her to, but he relented. She didn’t agree with formal training and this combined with lack of socialisation in lockdown has made it into a potentially dangerous animal that has already bitten DS. Again, if DS was that much of a ogre, why would he still tolerate the dog or even allowed her to have it in the first place?

When he visits us (she rarely comes because she can’t leave the dog alone without company) she constantly messages him. Maybe it’s because he’s controlling, but again if he was, why would he leave her to do her own thing? She has her own car, comes and goes as she pleases, does online tuition/translation and doesn’t appear to be a ‘prisoner’

My DD can’t believe her brother is as violent as the GF is implying and thinks she was just trying to get her version of events in first. I don’t want to think my DS is an abuser and if I found out he was, adult or not, I would be down on him like a ton of bricks.

DH and DD thinks GF was very wrong to get me involved in their argument and that she’s the one being manipulative but it still worries me that any woman might be scared of my DS. I really want to hear his version of the situation but tbh, also want to keep well out of it too.

OP posts:
JohnPrescottsPyjamas · 15/03/2022 17:24

@Mix56

He is will be in shock for a while, it all came to an end fast. What a lucky break that she decided to end it. Clearly your son was in the FOG, (fear obligation guilt.) Would he accept some counselling on abusive relationships ? She may drag this out yet. You should all block her number too.
I think you may have a very good point there. I hadn’t heard of FOG so very interesting reading and comparison.

We went back to the property today and luckily, and maybe thanks to the vigilant neighbour, everything was intact.

She had left quite a few clothes - possibly because she would have been restricted on weight for flying - and the sight of them made DS very emotional. I was very brisk and businesslike and told him we were bagging them and donating them to a charity shop today which we did. Two reasons, not good for his recovery and I don’t want any excuses for her return. She had the opportunity and that has now passed.

He started telling me he wanted to write to her to tell her how sorry he was, that he wished her well and how he regretted the ending. My advice was, don’t write yet, leave it a few weeks, then see how you feel. I’m convinced in a few weeks, his period of mourning will be over and his eyes will have been opened. His friends will no doubt work on him too as they’ve had misgivings for years.

If I’m thankful to her for anything, it was that she savagely cut off the ‘limb’ It was shockingly quick but would have been more traumatic and emotionally exhausting for all of us had things dragged on as they were.

The dog survived his day of execution and is on his way this Friday to a specialist GSD rescue where they understand the breed, will work with his fear/reactivity and his quality of life will be so much better.

OP posts:
Nopetryagain · 16/03/2022 10:52

Your son will eventually see he had a lucky escape, I had a similar toxic relationship and it’s almost impossible to see it when you’re in it. When you eventually do it’s then near impossible to fully admit/acknowledge to yourself hence the relationship dragging on and on.

I am glad he is free of her and I am also rooting for the dog to receive the correct training and land a new home. Well done OP.

Justilou1 · 16/03/2022 13:25

Your son should absolutely NOT write that letter which she could use as an admission of guilt if she chooses to go ahead and press charges at a later date. (People like her are just the sort to do this, too - especially if she ever gets wind of him moving on with someone else.) He should just let her ride off into the sunset thinking she’s won a victory.

Mix56 · 16/03/2022 16:26

Just one thing. You probably shouldn't throw her stuff away yet.
Even tho she has blocked your numbers, so you cant check if she is planning to collect later.
I'd put them in bin bags & keep for a while, I think there is a legal obligation not to dump other peoples posessions She would be able to make trouble if she so desired.
You could send a message to her/family saying the property is being sold she needs to reclaim now or its too late,

JohnPrescottsPyjamas · 16/03/2022 16:52

@Justilou1

Your son should absolutely NOT write that letter which she could use as an admission of guilt if she chooses to go ahead and press charges at a later date. (People like her are just the sort to do this, too - especially if she ever gets wind of him moving on with someone else.) He should just let her ride off into the sunset thinking she’s won a victory.
I totally agree.

He’s not known for his letter writing enthusiasm so I’d be very surprised if he actually got around to it anyway but just in case he had a moment of weakness I would steer him well away.

Funny isn’t, when emotions start to calm down, you remember little snippets of the words that were exchanged? Her reasons for ending the relationship given on Saturday were because she’d never settled in the U.K., it was too expensive and the weather was getting her down. She would have taken the dog but it wasn’t convenient and she didn’t have the money - so she wanted it put down, “because it wouldn’t be happy with anyone else” She was quite composed at this point.

By Sunday, arrangements had been made by us for the dog and she was told of the terms for her visit to the property - informed calmly and clearly by DS. She turned immediately into an absolute harridan! She demanded access, told us it was her dog to do with what she wanted, how could DS be so ‘cruel’ and that she was therefore reporting him for abusing her and the ‘theft’ of the animal.

Definitely not rational and well out of all of our lives.

OP posts:
AcrossthePond55 · 16/03/2022 17:26

If DS really wants to write a letter, by this I mean if he brings it up again, maybe he could go ahead and write it just to get his feelings and thoughts on paper and then he can give it to you. Tell him you'll stick it in a drawer for 'a few weeks' until he's had time to decompress, be with his mates, and to think calmly.

But I agree 1000% no such letter should actually be mailed to her. It would just be a 'thought exercise'.

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