This Girl Wants You To See Her Boyfriend Beating Her Up

Rayna Holden, 18, isn’t satisfied with the sentence her violent ex Darryl Moore was given, so wants other girls to see what domestic abuse looks like…

This Girl Wants You To See Her Boyfriend Beating Her Up

by Sophie Wilkinson |
Published on

Rayna Holden, an 18-year-old from Tyne-and-Wear, wants you to see a video of her being beaten up by her ex-boyfriend.

The video, caught on CCTV of the pub car park in Washington, where Daryl Moore, now 22, decided to repeatedly punch, drag around and kick his girlfriend, is harrowing viewing.

Rayna was so frightened of Daryl that despite suffering bruising, two broken ribs and a dislocated knee, she didn’t want to go to the police.

‘I was scared to press charges, but when I saw the CCTV footage I knew he had to be stopped – I don’t want any other woman to go through what I did.

‘If releasing this footage means one other person comes forward and reports their abuser, I’ll be happy.’

Things hadn’t always been so bad between them, she told The Mirror: ‘Daryl was my first love, and I was so besotted with him I trusted him completely. When he attacked me that night I thought he was going to kill me. I've never been so terrified in all my life.’

Rayna had noticed a change in her boyfriend’s behaviour ever since he became unemployed: ‘Daryl was so charming when I first met him. But after he lost his job as an engineer he turned nasty’

That day, he had been drinking for three hours when I went to speak to a pal - and he just lost it. He got jealous and stood over me, screaming that I was a “slag” and a “slut”.’

Darryl beat Rayna past the point where she lost consciousness ‘He was unstoppable - even when I told him he would kill me. The beatings kept coming until I couldn't think straight.

‘I stopped begging him to leave me alone, all I could do was curl in a ball and wait for it to be over.’

Darryl has since been convicted of assault and sentenced by Newcastle Crown Court to just 12 months in prison. While this feels like ‘a slap on the wrist’ to Rayna, who has moved back to her grandfather’s home in Mansfield after a brief spell in a women’s refuge, still has nightmares of the attack and has to go to counselling: ‘I want to warn other women what he's capable of. If releasing this footage means one other person comes forward and reports their abuser, I'll be happy.’

If you have been threatened, abused or assaulted by a partner or ex-partner, or if you think someone you know might be, contact the Domestic Abuse Hotline at nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk or on the phone 0808 2000 247

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Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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