Trapped in body bag for three days: Victim speaks out

A Sunshine Coast woman only had a pocket of air to breathe and a straw to sip water in a horrific ordeal before she escaped her violent partner.

Shirley Smith* couldn’t move, couldn’t see outside and couldn’t go to the bathroom.

All she had was a pocket of air to breathe and a straw to sip water.

Shirley was trapped in a body bag for three horrendous days after her partner, the man she once loved, held a shotgun to her head and screamed: “The only way you’re leaving mother f***er is in a body bag, get in”.

Through a broken Zoom call from a hidden location, Shirley spoke publicly for the first time about the horrendous ordeal two years ago.

Her name is not real to protect her from the potential repercussions of sharing her story.

And her case is among the thousands of women who never reported the abuse because, Shirley says, any police presence just would have made matters worse.

On average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner. Almost 10 women a day are hospitalised for assault injuries at the hands of a spouse or domestic partner.

Every day in May, as part of Domestic and Family Violence Awareness Month, news.com.au will tell the stories behind those shocking statistics.

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Shirley spent three days in a body bag after the man she loved threatened to kill her. Picture: Spenser Sembrat via Unsplash

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The 32-year-old had every ounce of power stripped from her in the 16 years she was with her partner.

She was tortured, both physically and mentally, isolated and helpless.

She said she often preferred the beating over the constant emotional abuse she endured.

“I would have copped a thousand hidings rather than some of the things he would say,” she said.

But nothing can compare to the nine children Shirley has lost before they were born due to the horrific violence.

She said “her little angels”, the only children she’d ever have, would stay with her forever.

“I will carry them with me until the day I die,” she said.

Shirley grew up in a small country town in NSW. Domestic violence, she said, was common.

The men who’d go home to beat their partners had power and connections, making it more difficult for their victims to flee.

When Shirley met her partner, she said he was charming and gentle.

It wasn’t until the couple moved in together that the abuse started.

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Shirley said even though she had been free from him for two years, most people close to her still had no idea how much danger she was in.

In 2018, shortly after Shirley escaped, police released several warrants for her partner’s arrest for drug and traffic offences.

He was eventually jailed but has to this day not faced domestic violence charges.

She said she would steal and traffick drugs to avoid her partner’s wrath.

“I know I’ve done things that I’m not proud of, but there was a choice: do it or cop the hiding,” she said.

Shirley said she would be dead today if a lawyer who knew her story hadn’t grabbed her by the arm and told her to “run”.

Her heart-wrenching escape happened just over a month after she was released from the body bag.

She went to court to meet her partner’s lawyer in his place.

It was the first time she’d been let out of the house in a month.

What followed was weeks of jumping from hotel to hotel, travelling by public transport across states under an alias and living in constant fear the man she once loved would find and kill her.

She spent eight months in a women’s refuge on the Sunshine Coast, run by Sunny Kids, until she moved interstate.

For now she is living a happy life.

She decided to speak up because she wanted others not to suffer like she had.

She said anyone in an unsafe relationship should carefully plan their escape and reach out to support services.

“It took me 16 years and three-and-a-half months to finally leave and I won’t sugar coat it … it was f***ing hard,” Shirley said.

“But it’s a new step, a new life, a safer one.”

Shirley no longer wakes up with bruises.

She’s not locked in her own home and she has more control over her life than ever.

She knows her ex may never stop looking for her.

But she is determined to live happy, safe and free.

“I have to do what I have to do to survive every day … because if he presents himself, I’m not walking away,” she said.

“Now, I have to watch myself. I have to watch my back.”

*The names in this story have been changed to protect those involved. It originally appeared on The Sunshine Coast Daily and has been republished with permission