Help Tonya's Family Break Free

I am not posting this to “expose” anybody, to harass anybody, or for anyone else to harass anyone. I am posting this because I NEED HELP, my mom NEEDS HELP and my siblings NEED HELP. I am and have been doing all that I can since I myself was a kid. But now it is to the point where we will need a lawyer, we will need to cover legal fees, and everything else that may come.

Never in a million years did I think i'd have to do this but all kinds of things i never thought would happen have been happening so, why not. This might come as a surprise to most but to those who truly know me know it’s been a long time coming. I am now 25 years old and for the past TWENTY years my mom Tonya Michelle Newman has been in an abusive marriage. And when I say ABUSIVE I do mean that in every way you can imagine. PHYSICALLY, mentally, emotionally, and financially. Not only has he been abusive to her but to myself and all 4 of my younger siblings (ages 18, 16, 14, and 8).

As long as I can remember this man has put his hands on my mama and I can name MANY instances. I remember being 5 years old in the back seat of his car watching him choke her while he was driving. And during this time it was just me. From then on out it just kept going with each of my siblings getting to witness the same things. When Kaylib (my now 14 year old brother) was around 4 years old my mom’s husband hit her in such a close proximity to Kaylib that my mom’s blood was on kaylibs shirt. Or when my mom was 7-8 months pregnant with my youngest brother Trystan (my now 8 year old brother) he threw a drink on her, put her out of the car (by the sonic’s near Walmart in Statesboro and at the time we lived next to SHS), and made her walk all the way home. When Trystan was born he told him to his infant face “You ruined my life.” I can remember Trystan being a baby on my hip while I am in between them trying to stop him from fighting with my mom. And just a month ago he was arguing with my mom, the kids had to step in because they were scared. During all of this he hit my only sister Taylor and all the kids tackled him to the ground to stop the whole thing.

But something that will forever be ingrained into my memory is the time we lived on Donaldson Street in Statesboro and my mom finally was able to make friends. My mom’s husband has never let her have any friends and when I say “let” her I mean he starts physical and verbal fights with her. But on this particular day she was at our neighbor’s house, he found out and came over to our neighbor’s house to beat her. He had picked up a stool and beat her so bad she was unrecognizable. He had come over to our neighbor’s house and beat her in front of their family & child. The police were called and he was in jail for only a week before he was released back home. I was in 6th grade when this happened.

Not only has abuse continuously been taking place but neglect and unstable living conditions have always been co occurring. My entire life my mom’s husband has kept her from working while at the same time always getting fired from his jobs for things like stealing, lying, fraud, and even aiding inmates when he was a correctional officer. Once he would lose his job and get in trouble he would stop paying all the bills & we would end up getting evicted. Each time we would move it would be because of eviction and I have lived in 10 different houses in Statesboro ALONE. Not including anywhere we’ve lived in Florida. Growing up our phones were always off. It was not until I started working that I was even able to keep my phone on. ANYONE who knows me knows I have had 10+ numbers due to constantly having to switch phone plans and phones. When he would get upset he would take my mom’s names off of all the bank accounts and she would not be able to access any money. Whenever he would get upset he would take us off of his insurance causing us to almost never have access to healthcare. I am still having dental problems that I am fixing that I am having to pay for myself out of pocket TILL THIS DAY. All of the kids have dental issues.

Between elementary & middle school I have gone to 12 different schools between Florida & Georgia. By the time I was in 6th grade we’ve been consistently in Statesboro and even my middle & high school stayed the same but anybody who knows me will tell you I've lived in 10 different homes/apartments/trailers. When we lived in Brooklet the trailer we lived in was so bad the floors were caving in and we were only able to move because my mama snuck the money to put a deposit down somewhere else.

When I graduated from high school he kicked me out and since then they’ve moved 3 more times. The house they’re in now the washer, dryer, a/c & plumbing are all broken. And it has been for months. The floors have risen from water damage, there's black mold growing, my mom’s husband stacks garbage bags in the garage and in the backyard, and two of my siblings are sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The only reason it’s even gotten this bad is because after 20 years he’s finally pushed my mom to her breaking point. But otherwise any time someone tries to come close to them & help he starts a fight with them. We have all grown up so isolated from everyone. My mama lost both of her parents as a teenager. She lost her mom to domestic violence specifically. Any time he gets the chance he tells her how “he understands why her step dad k*lled her mom if she acts anything like her,” he calls her stupid, and he makes fun of her for having teeth problems. This is from all her pregnancies carrying his children! She’s been trying to save to get teeth fixed but every time she’s close he stops buying the kids food, stops buying clothes, stops paying the bills, and then she has to spend what she’s saved to provide for the household.

During their arguments he’s spit in her face, he’s pushed her down stairs, and he’s threatened her with a metal bat for not wanting to be intimate with him. As I mentioned he has always kept us isolated from everything. He still keeps them all locked away from the world so no one will know. Some of you may remember around 2018 when I made a gofundme to get my mom & siblings away from him. That’s the time my mom’s husband picked my oldest little brother (who is now 18 years old) up by his neck & slammed him on a table. I got my mom and siblings out of the house but the gofundme only paid for a week at a hotel. So they came to live in the student apartments I was living in at the time. They were there for only a couple of days before someone reported me for having them stay with me. So they were forced to go back because we had nothing else and nobody else for help.

This has all been ongoing until as of just as recently as last week. My mom has called the police on him probably 4/5 times in the past couple of weeks & every time he flees. He waits until the police are gone and of course the police are going to leave because there is nothing they can do until he comes back. The police never follow up, they dont patrol the house, they don't look for him, and the cycle continues. For weeks she has asked him to leave the house because she’s ready to be done & he has been there everyday to antagonize her.

This time they start arguing like usual but he is mocking her, bringing up her dead parents, getting in her face. When she finally blew up because he kept antagonizing her, she tried to force him to leave and he started recording her. The police were called and my mom’s husband showed it to the police. While he was showing the police the video and interacting with them he was calm. But my mom wasn’t and she was arrested. There is little to no information on when she can come home and as everyone has seen she has been denied bond. On top of that, since then he’s still posting on these fake pages. He’s been making fake pages of her, messaging her friends, and family. Hell, and even my friends! He’s trying to expose her, he’s posted a lot of her sensitive information, her mugshot which includes the address to where her kids live and shared it all over his facebook page too! He followed all my younger siblings from other fake pages on instagram so they could see, and has mentioned my name in posts. Now that my mom isn’t here he will not let me see or get my siblings. He has blocked my number and is continuously making it hard to speak to them. I am not allowed near the house and he has already threatened to call the police & press kidnapping charges if I were to get the kids.

If you have read this far Thank you. Anything helps and everything would be going straight to legal fees and anything else that may come our way. Thank you so much. If you cannot donate we ask that you atleast share please.