'The process itself was as traumatising and damaging as the abuse' - Former garda Margaret Loftus Rouse shares experience of domestic abuse by ex-husband

"I swore... that I would never let that happen to us again. I have made good on my promise, I have done everything that I can possibly do to ensure that we are safe."

"Nothing you have to face, no matter how hard the judicial system has been for me, it has still been better than being in that relationship. I'm very dismayed that this is the judicial process that is available to victims. The process itself was as traumatising and damaging as the abuse."

"Silence only protects abusers. There is nothing to be ashamed of. I did carry shame for a long time, but I don't carry it now... There's a wonderful life out there for you to live... I cannot urge enough for anyone listening to me here tonight. Please come forward."

Margaret Loftus Rouse will give her first broadcast interview on RTÉ's Prime Time and will recall the difficulties of making a complaint against fellow Garda Trevor Bolger. On October 24, 2012, Bolger attacked her after a family party in Co Mayo. Bolger pleaded guilty to a Section 2 assault, received a three-month suspended sentence, and continued to serve as a garda during a years-long investigation before suspension. She described living with domestic abuse as like 'living in a concrete box, with no way out' and called the judicial process for victims traumatising and damaging. She urged survivors to break their silence and come forward.

Read at Irish Independent