I'm looking for some advice as to how I can best support a friend of mine. We've been friends for 15 years & are very close but I've recently found out that her partner has been very violent towards her. They'd been together about 2 years and I knew they'd been having problems for about 6 months but have only found out in the last week the true extent of things.
I feel incredibly guilty that she didn't feel she could tell me about what was happening until they got really out of hand but I know that it's not about how I feel. Its just not something that I've ever had any experience of & I want to be able to support her & advise her the best I can.
Her exP is very unstable & aggressive, probably a lot to do with the mix of cocaine & steroids it turns out he has been taking, & has already been to prison twice for violent offences. I knew at Christmas that he had been being very nasty to her, always putting her down & threatening her & I tried to talk her into leaving as I was genuinely scared for her safety. She assured me though that he had changed and things were much better & that they were TTC.
Things came to a head last week though when he attacked her while she was sleeping & she called the police. She has since told me that its not the only occasion this has happened. It now looks like she will have to go to court as he will be charged with abh & there is no way he'll plead guilty. He's yet to be arrested despite the police knowing where he is & him returning to there home on several occasions. She's staying with another friend at the moment but would like to go home. I mentioned getting a restraining order but the police have told her she'd need to get an injunction & it would cost her £2000!
Is there anything she can do? And how do I help her come to terms with everything & eventually move on? To be honest I'm not sure she's even told anyone the whole story yet.