Vigil shows unity against domestic violence

Published 4:10 pm Tuesday, December 6, 2005

MOULTRIE — About 80 people came to Lewis Hill Auditorium at dusk Tuesday and held a candlelight vigil to remember victims of domestic violence and bring about awareness of the problem in Colquitt County.

District Attorney David Miller told the crowd that, statistically, one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. One hundred forty people have been killed this year in the state of Georgia because of domestic violence.

A big issue in this year’s presidential election is the war on terror, but Miller said no one in Georgia has been killed in 2004 because of a foreign terrorist. The figure of 140 people killed because of domestic violence, however, should not make it an issue to overlook. Locally, four people have already died in domestic violence in Colquitt County this year — twice as many as in all of 2003.

Interim Director of Serenity House Blue Shaddix welcomed the crowd to the vigil and said it was a vigil for those struggling to survive domestic violence as well as its victims. The Rev. Hugh Ward led the crowd in an opening prayer, but he said it was difficult to pray in this situation because it’s not easy to get everything out that needs to be said.

Corrine Walker, a survivor of a domestic violence incident on Sept. 26, 2000, said she put the whole incident in God’s hands and believes He protected her. She said she spent six weeks of recovery reflecting on the whole relationship and why she stayed in it for so long.

It was during the 18th year of the marriage that Walker said she knew she needed to get out of the relationship. While there were some good days in the relationship, she endured physical, mental and emotional violence each year.

“My husband tried to strip me of who I was,” Walker said.

The night of Sept. 26, 2000, Walker said she went to her home to get her stuff and get away from her abusive husband. Her husband, however, had prepared a “dying bed” for her that night.

Walker said she called 911, but the fact they did not respond was a “blessing in disguise.” She said she would have died that night had there been a response to her call.

To keep her from escaping, Walker said she was tied up using duct tape at first, but her husband then used telephone cords because she had previously escaped when he used duct tape. She was left tied up on the bed until 3 a.m., but then, she said, she received a premonition to escape and she was able to get freed from her bindings.

She ran away from the house after getting free and called on her child to help because she thought her husband would not hurt him. Despite her son’s objection, she went to the sheriff’s office.

A deputy returned with Walker to collect her things. Believing her husband was away from the house, the officer waited outside in case he drove up. But he was hiding inside, and while Walker packed he shot her twice.

She was hit first in the shoulder then in the head by .357-caliber bullets. After she had been hit, Walker prayed for her husband and asked God to forgive him for what he did, but her husband turned the gun on himself.

Despite all of the pain she went through because of the shooting, Walker said there is joy in her pain because she is still here. Prayer does work, and God is a good God, but the relationship she was in was formed by man and not God. Because it was a marriage formed by man, it was not meant to work out for either person in the relationship.

Whenever she speaks with women in an abusive relationship, Walker said she does not tell them what they should do. Instead, she tells them her story and allows them to make their own choices.

Walker said it is important to remember that domestic violence does not know any boundaries. Social standing, race, neighborhood or any other factor does not make one immune to the threat of domestic violence.

After Walker’s address, a candle was lit to remember the nine victims of domestic abuse in Colquitt County since 2000. The families of the victims came forward and held the candles in memory of each victim. The crowd then lit candles in a show of unity against domestic violence.

The Rev. Dave Underwood, chaplain of the Moultrie Police Department, concluded the vigil with a prayer for all the victims and for those who commit domestic violence. It is only by God’s grace that anyone can be able to change their ways and survive domestic abuse, he said.

Donnice Almand, whose daughter Kim Nunez was killed in 2000, said the vigil was hard to attend but it was also good to be there. The vigil helps to brings about awareness of domestic violence, she said.

After her daughter was killed, Almand said she prayed something good would come out of her tragedy. Nunez’s slaying provided an impetus for Serenity House, which provides a shelter and helps victims get out of abusive relationships.

Nunez’s son Shannon said the vigil helped him to know that he and his family have the support of the entire community. It makes him feel that he does not have to grieve alone.

For anyone who is going through a violent relationship, Shaddix said they can either call 911 or the Serenity House Crisis Line at 890-7233 for help and support. There is also a shelter available for women, but Serenity House’s services are offered to everyone, male or female, whether they stay at the shelter or not.