Shona Roy's Courageous Journey To Regain Her Confidence And Save Her Children (Part 2)
In Part 2 of this SAYS exclusive, Shona shares how a newfound friend gave her the courage to move on and fight to bring her children back to Malaysia.
By Nandini Balakrishnan — 25 Apr 2016, 06:32 PM
On 22 April, we released the first part of Shona Sinha Roy's traumatic story that details her experience with brutal domestic violence for almost a decade. This is the second part of her story.
"The hardest part about running away from that 'monster' was leaving my children behind. It tore me apart, but I think I would have died if I had stayed back".
She desperately wanted to bring her children back with her, but her husband had made it impossible by tearing up both Emran and Zahra'a's Malaysian passports and created Saudi passports for them instead.
According to the Middle Eastern country's laws, the children would require their father's permission to leave the country as they now only have Saudi Arabian passports.
After about a week, 'T' realised that Shona wasn't planning to come back anytime soon. He was constantly calling her for the first couple of weeks, using their kids to guilt-trip her into going back to Saudi.
"I would get phone calls from him all the time, his emotions were erratic and all over the place. From being angry and yelling to crying on the phone, he was determined to get me back there," said Shona.
Shona explained how he would say things like, "How dare you leave the kids behind, don't you miss them, they miss you so much, Imran and Zahra'a' are always crying here".
"I almost gave in and I missed my kids so much. It broke my heart knowing that they were forced to live with him, without my protection."
Shona was broken and her marriage of eight years that she desperately tried to hold on to was shattered.
She explained how she went through severe depression, locking herself up in the house and refusing to meet anybody.
"It was the most difficult time of my life, I was so worried about my children and their well-being and on a personal level I felt like I was no longer the person I used to be."
Despite having her family's support and love, Shona admitted that she really didn't know how to get up, be strong and move on.
The battered mother of two knew that she needed to do something to bring her kids back to a safe and nurturing environment, but she didn't know how. 'T' broke her beyond repair.
"I wanted to kill myself, but everything changed when I met him."
Shona formed a friendship with a kind soul that changed her life and taught her the importance of not giving up.
Tearing up, Shona spoke about the friend that has been there for her since she met him at the darkest point in her life.
'M', as she calls him, came into her life unexpectedly and ended up becoming her pillar of strength and support over the past year.
"We met through a friend, at a random Sunday lunch. I was depressed and the last thing I wanted was to make small talk but he was determined to be my friend," said Shona.
"He was always there. Every time I got depressed, sick or felt like giving up, he was always there to remind me of my goal to get my kids back home."
As the first step towards moving on and becoming stronger, 'M' asked Shona to get a job and suggested one that involves travelling and meeting new people.
So, she got a job as a flight attendant with Rayani Air, regained her financial independence and finally, her confidence.
With a new job and her loved ones' support, Shona was more than ready to fight for the custody of her children.
"M helped me in so many ways, it went beyond emotional support. He helped me with legal matters pertaining the custody of my children and gave me practical, sound suggestions on what I should do next to best prepare for this arduous battle," explained Shona.
Right when her life was beginning to make sense again, she started getting threatening calls from 'T'. This time around, he was vindictive, mean and had changed his antics.
"He wanted to break me, told me that he has barred me from entering Saudi, cutting all excess to my children. What really shocked me was that he casually said that he was going to remarry and have his second wife take care of my kids."
However, a week later, he called Shona and told her that she can come back to Saudi to see the kids, but the offer came tied to a number of unimaginably disturbing conditions
"If you want to come back, you have to wear sexy, tight-fitted clothes at home, do your hair, put on make up and make sure you take really good care of me," said 'T', as quoted by Shona.
The phone call left her speechless and she realised right then that he wants nothing but a sex slave that lives up to his demands.
"He hardly spoke about the kids and I was getting worried about their condition. I knew that he had the habit of lashing out at them when he's upset even when I'm around.
"So I started begging him to bring the children to Malaysia. Spent months speaking to him, coaxing him to bring Imran and Zahra'a' back to Malaysia for their birthday," explained Shona.