Harlan Kirgan
A woman who described herself as a 25-year survivor of domestic violence recounted her escape from her abuser and her recovery at the annual Take Back the Night March and Vigil in Eunice Tuesday.
Eva Noel, of Opelousas, said many years ago she thought she was going to die at a young age.
The mother of two and grandmother of two children, said the abuse began when she was 22 years old in Texas.
“I could stand here until the cows come home and tell you horror stories, but that’s not what we are here for. We are here because we want to stand for those who have been through that and we want to help ...,” she said.
Noel spoke after a walk from the Eunice Municipal Complex to the Circle Park and back.
“I was just blown away by the numbers,” she said about domestic violence statistics that include: every nine seconds a woman is victim of domestic violence; every day three women are murdered by intimate partner; and every year, 4,774,000 people in the U.S. will experience physical violence by an intimate partner.
One in seven men will be victims of domestic violence, she said.
Noel said people often say what they would do in a violent situation, she said.
“You can’t say what you won’t do or what you will do. Fear overpowered me so bad, so, so bad. I was afraid to leave. When I finally did build up the nerve and courage to leave I did what many do, I came right back because they sweet talk you right back into the situation,” she said.
Noel said she left three times and returned to a worsening relationship. “Trust me, I’ve had the black eyes, I’ve had teeth knocked out ....” she said.
She developed a plan that during a period when the relationship was OK, she would leave. When that day occurred, she drove to her father’s home in Opelousas with her child and eventually joined the Army.
“I went to the one place I knew that there was no way on God’s green earth that he was coming to get me there and that was Uncle Sam. I joined the military,” she said.
And while the escape removed her from the reach of the abuser, Noel said it took another 15 years for her to escape her hate of him.
Also speaking at the event sponsored by the Chat-A-While Social Club and St. Landry–Evangeline Sexual Assault Center was Eunice Alderwoman Germaine Simpson said domestic violence can be physical and mental.
“Domestic violence has no dividing line,” she said about its reach into a variety of families.
Barry Soileau, of the St. Landry Parish District Attorney’s Office, told a story that pointed to domestic abuse as being a generational problem.