Help our friend after losing against domestic violence case

Hey, we're Bea and Kat. We're two queer femmes within the music scene in London and we want to open up about this to our community.

We're looking to raise funds to support a very dear friend of ours to get back on their feet following a year long legal process with her domestic violence case.

We have decided to take this upon ourselves to raise these funds to support her, after watching her struggle with this case and devastating loss. She is one of us and we need to stick together, always, but in times of crisis it's even more important.

Our friend was living with her partner, and following the discovery of their infidelity opened a conversation stating that she wanted to break things off. From then, the partner became violent, emotionally manipulative and extremely aggressive. They would threaten harm to themselves and others, and refused to leave the property for four months following the break up, causing great distress.

Over the course of those four months, the extent of the violence ranged from destroying our friend's personal items, to smashing objects, to causing intense damage to the rented property. This continued until the final straw of physical violence against our friend. Following the news of the infidelity and violence, word spread across social media platforms outing the partner as a serial abuser from multiple sources, who stated that they had moved twice before from different cities after being accused of sexual assault and physical violence. When she raised a non-molestation order and took the evidence of other peoples accounts to the authorities, the partner fled.

The damage to the property was extensive and resulted in the landlord stepping in and demanding the repairs be done imminently. Despite being contacted by both our friend and the landlord, the partner didn't respond to messages or calls, before changing their number and becoming un-traceable. Mutual friends and family attempted to contact the partner to no avail, leaving our friend being the only tenant responsible to make up for the damages.

Over the course of the year that followed, the landlord continued to claim he was dissatisfied with the outcome, and took legal action against our friend in order to get further financial reimbursement, despite her already paying in excess of £2,400 when leaving the tenancy. The partner changed their name, number and home address multiple times, leading to the landlord only filing against our friend as a result. Despite seeking legal advice and support, her case against the landlord pleading to be given a pardon, the decision was that there was 'significant lack of evidence to prove the culprit of the damage' and therefore as a named tenant, she was obliged to pay out an additional £3,200 to the landlord and settle the case.

It is very important for us to tell our friend's story, as this is too commonly the case within the areas of domestic violence - women are not taken seriously, respected, listened to or believed. The financial burden of this on top of the severe emotional damage leaves her in a currently unmanageable situation.

We would really love to get your support to at least alleviate some of the financial stresses from our friend, as this has left her with debt, unable to pay her rent and bills, let alone any sustenance.

We will do everything we can as her friends to support her with the emotional stresses that are going to be with her for years to come, but to be able to help in the financial situation would truly be life changing for her at this time. All money will go towards building her life back up to one she deserves, and we are eternally grateful for any contribution, no matter how much.

**Due to the nature of the reason behind this GoFundMe, we've decided to keep our friend anonymous to ensure her safety and ask that anyone sharing to please consider this, and do the same.

Thank you all so much for reading, please share amongst your friends and let's make this happen for her!

Bea and Kat xx