Victims of domestic violence often ask for charges to be withdrawn. Here’s why

Why some women abandon the process

Nathalie Trottier, a survivor of domestic violence who turned to women’s shelters eight times before leaving her abusive household in 2012, knows firsthand what it’s like to make such a decision.

She did so after filing a criminal complaint against her ex-partner and then being told by the Crown prosecutor at the time that he would likely only be sentenced to community service for his crimes.

“I felt like I was being let down in the sense that, for me, [my ex] would be even angrier with me. And my children were also angry that I was filing a complaint against their father … So it was all that fear. That’s why I didn’t go ahead with it,” she said in an interview.

Other barriers women face are the fear of retaliation from their aggressor for going through with the charges or the fear of not being believed by the justice system, she said.

“I want to say that we have to go for it and see it through to the end because, unfortunately, this woman was murdered. And, unfortunately, sometimes it won’t be this person who gets murdered, but it will be the next partner,” Trottier said.

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