Vinka doesn't dare leave Safe House, her ex told her: As soon as I'm free, I'll kill you

Photo: Private archive

I wake up every morning with the thought, "How much time do I have left." And I go to bed every night wondering the same thing. I live with that thought and I wonder where I will be when I leave the Safe House, because the moment I leave here, I really don't know how much time I have left and which day will be my last.

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This is how Vinka Markovic, a woman who survived horrific violence and who is now facing a new problem, begins her testimony for Telegraf.rs. The perpetrator who tortured her horrifically and nearly killed her, was sentenced to one year suspended sentence and is now serving his sentence under house arrrest, while Vinka cannot return to her home.

"When he was arrested, he said in front of everyone, "As soon as I get out of prison, I will kill you'. He was given a one year suspended sentence and was given a 3-year restraining order, but we all know that it is just a paper. I don't dare return home knowing that he is outside and that he can kill me at any time. I can't even see my son, who is safe, but I can't visit him," says the desperate woman.

That is why she decided to speak publicly about the torture she went through. She met the abuser about two years ago. She says that he was obsessed with her and wanted them to spend every day together.

"When I couldn't, because I have a child, a job and other obligations, he would check my phone when I arrived, all messages on social networks.... So after three months of dating, I got beaten the first time, because he read a message I got from somebody else. First he slapped me hard, then he hit me in the stomach with his fist, then between my eyes, and in the end he chocked me and insulted me, telling me I'm a wh*re, a sl*t and a sperm dumpster. Our relationship ended then, but after more than a year, he returned to my life to find out who I was intimate with in the meantime," Vinka remembers.

It was July 12, about nine o'clock in the evening. He came near Vinka's house and threatened to kill her whole family if she didn't come out. As soon as she got into his car, he locked it up and the torment started.

"He drove me to his house, where he continued torturing me for several hours. He wanted to make me ugly. He strangled me with his bare hands until I lost consciousness, and then woke me up with blows with open fists. One of my eye was closed and the other was half open. I could see with that other and just prayed to God to survive," says the victim of violence.

He tried to break her index finger asking her to give him the passport to her Google account, and then he cut her hair and a gold necklace with a hunting knife into small pieces. Every time he'd hit her, Vinka adds, he would spit in her face, insulting her.

"When I would fall from that chair where he beat me, he would tell me 'get up you wh*re, get up, why are you pretending', and then he would beat me again and again. That torture lasted for three and a half hours. He said I would get out of there in a casket. I then grabbed his hand and told him, 'We will say it was a car accident'. I just wanted to survive. He then said, ''ll f*ck you up, and I'll f*ck myself up', and called the police. He was cool, when they came he was looking for a cigarette, as if we were in a cafe," says Vinka.

He confessed to the crime. He was given a suspended sentence of one year and a 3-year restraining order.

"He's at home now, and I can't go back to mine. I just want to see my child again. I don't know what the solution is, maybe someone who hears this will offer safe accommodation with cameras and security," this woman said in her appeal.

Women's Safe Houses are shelters for all women and their children endangered by physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence in the family.

If you suffer violence, call:

- Safe House Belgrade

0800 011 011 - weekdays from 10 am to 7 pm, toll free

011 3291 440 - weekdays from 10 am to 7 pm

062 304 560 - at night from 7 pm to 10 am

- Autonomous Women's Center

0800 100 007 - weekdays from 10 am to 8 pm, toll free

(Telegraf.rs)