WUNRN
New Zealand - Domestic Violence
Homicide - Reality Story
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New Zealand: Mother-of-five Sarah Edwards suffered nearly two decades of brutality at the hands of her husband before being murdered.
Now, her family urges anyone else suffering domestic violence to seek help before the tragedy repeats itself.
The 33-year-old was found dead in a van in the Lower Hutt suburb of Taita on Easter Monday last year.
Last week Manu Sikuvea, 35, pleaded guilty to her murder and to two charges of sexual violation. He was remanded in custody till June 27 for sentencing.
The Dominion Post can now reveal the extent of the violence suffered by Ms Edwards - and the attempts by her family to save her.
"It's not just something he's done on the spur of the moment, it's been a long time happening," her mother Sue Edwards said. "He put her through heaps. Other people should know so they can be aware if they're in that situation, and get out before it's too late."
Her family says Ms Edwards tried to hide the marks of the violence with dark sunglasses and long-sleeved tops because she was ashamed.
They begged her to leave Mr Sikuvea, even once paying for her to fly to Australia, but she was threatened or cajoled into returning to him time and again.
She stayed for her children, out of fear, and because she loved him.
Ms Edwards' sister Selena McArthur said: "When I look back at things now, it's too late to say `if only I did this, if only I did that'.
"And we didn't discuss it. So maybe it is time we got it out in the open. It's quite sad and tearful, but we need to hear it ... If only she had spoken out."
"All I'm saying to you today, if you can just make that one little difference to somebody out there, whether it be one or a dozen people, we need to get it out there, so this doesn't happen again. Nobody should be in that situation."
Senior Sergeant Tusha Penny, who worked on the case, said the story was sadly all too common.
"There is no face to domestic violence. It's through every ethnicity, every socio-economic group and it's through each gender. There are a lot of Manu Sikuveas out there. His profile is not that dissimilar to a lot of other domestic violence profiles."
Police were putting huge resources into domestic violence, but society
needed to do more too, she said."This is a priority for police, but it
can't be done alone. It's a community issue."
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