Lara Sabanosh - Living under the veil of domestic violence

Lara Sabanosh and her husband had been marrried for twenty years and had been based at Guantanamo Bay in a civilian capacity for four years. On January 9th 2015 after an evening event he went missing and his body was found later in the bay. In telling the story of his disappearance, the media portrayed him as a war hero and a wonderful husband and father but this did not tell the full story of their relationship.

The evening her husband went missing he had assaulted her three times verbally and physically. The attack had been reported but the people who were questioning her about his disappearance were the same people he socialised with. Nobody was listening to her and the reports she had made against him ignored.

Since then Lara has often been asked why people stay abusers. Lara feels that she became a military wife at a very young age. She was nineteen years old when she met her husband and was a college student with big plans for the future. She came from a close-knit family unit with no background in violence but she now realises that the stronger the ties between them came the more she lost herself. At the start of the relationship it was not abusive but she now realises that there were some red flags before they got married. There were incidents that happened which she now feels should have given her an indication about how he handled situations and that he was lying to her. After they got married these things became her problem.