It's a picture of a mum cuddling her newborn son - but it tells a harrowing story
09.03.2024 - 23:31
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
It is a snapshot of a tender moment between a mum and her newborn baby. Yet the quick selfie taken by Rebecca Smith as her tiny son Calvin slept on her chest at home also tells a different, more harrowing story.
The bruising around her right eye also acts as a visual reminder of the abuse meated out on her by a man who claimed to love and care for her.
For the first few months of the relationship between Rebecca, known as Bekah, and her former partner Karl Draper, things were 'great.' But then he turned violent. And it would be years until she felt able to speak out about her ordeal.
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Bekah, from Kirkby, on Merseyside, met Draper through mutual friends in 2020. "The relationship progressed very quickly, too quickly. He moved in straight away" she told the Liverpool Echo.
"For the first few months it was great. It was about four months in when things changed. He started isolating me from my friends. He first got violent when I bought a dog. He asked me for money. I said I couldn't, so he threw the dog cage at me. It was just horrific. It just got worse when I was pregnant."
Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that Draper repeatedly strangled Bekah during the course of arguments. He even did so on two occasions after she had fallen pregnant with his child, leaving her "terrified that she was going to lose the baby" as she struggled for breath.
Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting, outlined how the thug had also punched a hole in their bedroom door, callously broke items of her jewellery, covered their living room floor in shampoo, and