Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Murdered By My Boyfriend



I have just finished watching ‘Murdered by my boyfriend’ which was shown on BB3 tonight and I have to say it really hit a nerve. I am at a loss on what to say about it really. It has to be, hands down, one of the hardest hitting things I have ever seen.


It starts off with you meeting the main character Ashley, a party going, young and beautiful 17 year old girl. She is part time in college and part time working in clothing shop. We see her meet her soon to be boyfriend Reece and I’m not going to lie, I was jealous of her. Reece seemed like the most perfect boyfriend, calling her beautiful, impressing all her friends even promising her to fully support her when she unexpectedly falls pregnant just 3 months into the relationship. But as the title suggests this all changes. He soon turns violent with her, isolating her from her friends and being controlling. A few scenes are shown where he is physically abusive to her and I must admit, it’s scary and extremely hard to watch. The actress playing Ashley does an amazing job and really shows all the different emotions that are felt in a relationship like this. 

I don’t know whether it was hard to watch because of the violence or because of the awful feeling at the back of mind that I am lucky that wasn’t me. The final scene shows Reece repeatedly hitting, kicking and stamping on his girlfriend and eventually beating her with an ironing board. After doing some further reading I found out that, Miss Brittle, which was the real name of the woman involved, died in hospital from 27 injuries to her head, including her jaw fractured on both side. Her partner whose real name was Sanchez Williams, then sat next to her body for two hours while she lay unconscious. It was only after this when she taken into hospital did she die. Who knows if he would have rang the ambulance earlier maybe she would have lived. 


What really hit me about this final scene is as it was being shown it cut to a shot of Ashley’s eyes with slow motion feathers and a very quiet background. The peace and tranquillity of this shot almost showed thee relief that in some ways she must of felt. After the years of fear and pain, in some ways she was finally free. Although I can only imagine how brutal, painful and scary this must have been for her I take some comfort knowing that Mr Williams was sentenced to life in prison. Not only that but this programme has been trending on twitter, meaning it can act as a warning to many people weather it helps friends recognise the signs of domestic violence, or gives victims the push they need to speak out.

My thoughts go out to Miss Brittle’s friends and family and remember you are not alone. 

Speak up, there is a way, there is help. 







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