A Kelowna, B.C. woman has taken her fight against domestic abuse to Facebook, posting a video to tell her story and to inspire other women to come forward.
In the video, posted on Feb. 8 entitled “Please Help Me,” Selina Morrison alleges her now-ex-boyfriend repeatedly subjected her to domestic and emotional abuse.
She says that the man became drunk and went after her on Friday, forcing her to hide in their bathroom while he threatened to break her teeth. Morrison called police he was arrested, then released with conditions.
But she says he broke those conditions within hours, when he contacted her and tried to convince her to not go forward with the charges.
While police searched for her attacker to re-arrest him, Morrison says she went into hiding. After two days of living in fear, she says she decided to create the video to let others know what she was going through, and to declare her refusal to be a victim.
The seven-minute clip has since been viewed more than 15,000 times and shared nearly 300 times.
RCMP tracked down the man and re-arrested the man within seven hours of her posting the Facebook video, she says.
Morrison tells CTV Vancouver that she first considered simply leaving the man and not calling police after Friday's incident. But she changed her mind because she wanted to try to protect other women from the man – and because she was thinking about her daughter, Gypsy.
"I have to be an example for my daughter, that it's not ok just to walk away, because then he just becomes someone else's problem," she said.
Morrison has since posted another video thanking those who reached out to offer support and to tell their stories. That clip has had even more views than her first video.
Karen Mason of the Kelowna Women's Shelter says Morrison's actions are unusual and courageous.
"There are those who would say perhaps she's putting herself and her daughter at more risk. There are those who would say, good for her -- use the power of social media to shame your abuser and put this issue out there," says Mason.
Morrison says four of the man’s previous ex-girlfriends have reached out to her with similar allegations and fears.
"Every girlfriend has come forward and said, 'I am so sorry that another woman has gone through this'," Morrison says.
Morrison writes on her Facebook page that, without taking her story to social media, she would never have been able to be hear from these women. She now believes that there are five victims, her case will be stronger.
"Our story is so strong… that there is no way the court system will be able to just sweep this under the rug," she writes.
Morrison also believes laws need to be changed so that victims don't have to lose their freedom while their attackers are able to walk free.
Const. Kris Clark, Kelowna RCMP admits that the restraining orders that are issued in cases like this are hard to enforce.
"It's not a physical barrier. It's a document that is an attempt to ensure that person's safety."
In a post on Thursday morning, Morrison writes that she has just learned that her ex has already created a new profile on the Plenty of Fish dating website – a profile that she says is filled with lies.
