Please read/comment on what I'm planning on saying in court Thursday when I have my hearing for a restraining order against my ex boyfriend. I will be reading this word for word, otherwise ill probably get too upset to even think clearly. Please, please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.


Opening Statement
I would like to thank you for listening to my story, and I hope that you can help me do what I believe is the best choice for my safety and well-being. I ask that the court treat this only as a civil case – I do not wish to press charges or be involved in a criminal case that involves what will be discussed today. I am not trying to get any money either; I am only seeking protection from Daniel.

What Has Happened – My Story
Daniel and I began dating last August. Throughout the entirety of our dating, we had arguments, as all couples do at some point. After a few months, the arguments began to escalate and Daniel made it seem as though it was always my fault when we had a disagreement. He would never discuss the argument the next day, even if I asked him to.
In October one night, we had an argument and Daniel began shoving me. He was angry and yelled at me, then he shoved me onto the ground. He stepped on my legs while he still had his boots on, repeatedly. I had bruises for weeks after. I tried to talk about it with him, but he refused. He said he I must have been mistaken and forgotten that I’d fallen that night or done something else, myself.
On January 17, 2013, Daniel and I had some drinks together in Downtown <town>. When we got to my apartment to go to sleep, we had an argument and in an attempt to not make him more angry, I tried to sleep on my couch while he stayed on my bed. He got up to leave, but had misplaced his phone. He started yelling at me when he couldn’t find it and I didn’t know where it was. I told him he should just leave and we could find it in the morning, but he wouldn’t leave. I tried to get him to leave, but he just wouldn’t. I sat down on my couch because I was extremely tired at this point. He started yelling at me and all of the sudden, he started punching me in my face and upper body. I just sat on my couch because I didn’t even know how to react. He punched me probably 15 or 20 times before he stopped. I think he finally stopped because my nose was gushing blood. My upper lip and nose were swollen for days and the inside of my lip was bruised for over a week. I have a picture of the bruise on my inner lip that I was able to recover from my computer. I was too afraid of what Daniel might do if he found the pictures, so I deleted them. I had a picture of the blood-stained shirt as well, but was unable to recover it. Daniel promised me he would get help and talk to a counselor about the incident. He never did and any time I tried to talk to him about it, he ignored me and wouldn’t talk about it.
The following week I was so upset and I really wanted to leave the relationship, but I also wanted to believe him when he said it would never happen again. I was scared to be alone but I was also afraid of what he might do. The following week, on the night of January 24/morning of January 25, Daniel went out with some friends for some drinks after work. I went out with some of my friends to hear a band play, and Daniel said we could meet up later that night and go back to my apartment. He said we would leave no later than 1am, but at 1:30am I was begging him to go home because I was tired. He was angry and drunk, and he yelled at me the entire walk back to my apartment. I just wanted to go to sleep and I was tired of walking on eggshells around him. I was really upset and told him that I didn’t want to live anymore. He told me that he wouldn’t care if I lived or died and if I wanted to die I should just kill myself. He left and walked back to his apartment. In anger, frustration, and sadness, I followed him back to his apartment and took way too much Tylenol, enough to be a lethal dose. I followed it with Whisky. He told me he was going to call an ambulance and I didn’t want them to come so I left. I immediately regretted taking all the Tylenol, so I made myself throw it up. I eventually went back to his apartment because I was scared that I might die in my sleep if I went home and slept alone. The next day I couldn’t hold food down and eventually called poison control and took myself to the hospital. While in the hospital, three or four different doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists asked me if anyone had hurt me before and if I was safe at home – I lied. I spent time in the hospital and then at the <psych hospital> before I could go home. I still see my therapist regularly and she now knows about all of this.
The night that I finally left Daniel occurred when he was arrested on March 3, 2013. I was trying to keep him from driving drunk and in order to get him to walk with me, I took his phone. He grabbed me on the side of High Street downtown and wouldn’t let go. We walked past a police cruiser, so two police officers came to talk to us. He got upset and yelled at the police officers. Finally, when he was about to leave, he shoved the female officer when she tried to warn him about drinking and driving. He was tackled by the two police officers and tried get away from them. He was charged with battery on an officer, obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct, and public intoxication. I am so thankful that those officers stopped us that night, as I have no doubt that he would have beat me up when we got to my apartment again. I decided that I was finished dating him as I watched the officers take him away in handcuffs.
Since I have left him, many things have happened that make me uncomfortable and feel unsafe. The weekend after I left him, on March 9, 2013, I went to hear a band play in Morgantown – a band that Daniel had previously told me he hated. He told me that he hated to even be in the bar when the band was playing. While they were playing and I was talking to a friend of mine, Daniel walked in, walked straight toward me, walked past me, put his hand on my lower back, and kept it there for a few seconds. I was trying to back away from him as he did this. He wasn’t in the bar with any friends and he just stood and watched as I talked to some of my friends – I had my friends watch to see what he was doing. They said he just kept watching us. Eventually, Daniel left, but I didn’t feel right just walking home by myself, so I had a friend drive me home. We were walking to my friend’s car when Daniel walked by us again on the way to my friend’s car. He stared at us, the same way he had stared at us previously that night. We went and got food after that just to be sure that Daniel would go home before I went and stayed alone in my apartment.
I struggled with the decision of whether or not I should tell Daniel’s family about everything that had happened. I had met them over Christmas, and I thought that they would want to know about it so they could help him. Daniel’s sister Jamie said she was very glad that I told her and she was very upset that he could do something like this. I told her that I really just wanted to make sure that this couldn’t happen to someone else later. When Jamie was going to talk to Daniel about it, Daniel told her that I had been going around telling his friends about what had happened and that he beat me up. I knew that was a lie because I only told one person that we both knew, aside from his sister, and that was only because he sent me a message online about what had happened. It worries me that he is lying about this to others, especially when I have been very careful to only tell people that I felt needed to know about the abuse in order to keep myself safe.
On Tuesday, March 19, my supervisor from work came to my apartment briefly. I had already told her about everything that happened with Daniel so that if anything occurred during work or if I had to miss work for anything related to this case, she would understand why. When she walked in, she grabbed the door handle to shut my door. She commented that it seemed unsafe, and she looked at the door handle and immediately told me that she thought someone had tried to pry the door handle off. I tightened the door knob with a screwdriver and made sure to note if it changed. A couple of days later, on Thursday, March 21, I noticed the same change in my deadbolt lock – it looked like someone had unsuccessfully tried to pry it off the door. There is no way I can prove that this was in fact Daniel that tried to get into my apartment, but I think it would be an extraordinary coincidence if it weren’t him.
I generally feel unsafe walking around alone outside and have mostly had friends walk me home if I walk somewhere to make sure that Daniel is not waiting for me there when I get home. I don’t know what kind of retaliation he is capable of, especially if he were to get drunk and decide to come attack me. Since he has already said that he doesn’t care if I live or die, it seems to me that there is a greater possibility of Daniel retaliating.

Questions/Concerns
-If issued, would the protective order prevent him from entering a place of business or public place where I was already located?

Closing Statements
I hope you will grant this protective order for my safety and piece of mind. I wish I would have come to court sooner to get this issued, but I think it is still just as important that I get it now. I have faith that you will do the right thing by granting me this protective order to prevent any other acts of domestic violence from occurring. Thank you for your time today.