“As if she didn’t know how crazy he was.”
“That wouldn’t have been the first time he’s spoken to her like that.”
“She married him. She would have known what he was like.”
And let the victim blaming commence.
Last night on A Current Affair a shocking video aired in which former deputy Auburn mayor Salim Mehajer verbally abused his estranged wife Aysha, sending shock waves (actually not that shocked) around the country.
In his own defence, Salim Mehajer claims the video has been “taken out of context” and to quote my husband, “I wouldn’t want to see which context it’s been taken out of”. Unless he was a making a video called, How NOT To Talk To Someone You Claim To Love, then there’s not a lot of context.
This guy who has done everything possible to get us all to notice him, flashing his bling like it makes him a better person and making a ridiculous spectacle out of his wedding. Now we have seen a much darker side.
This morning as I prepared to comment on the story on the Today Show on Nine I spoke to friends and colleagues about the topic, asking them what they thought about it and these friends - all of whom are women - all made comments that in my mind are nothing short of victim blaming.
Let's make one thing clear. Aysha is the victim in this. She is not to blame.
This morning I spoke about Salim Mehajer on the Mixed Grill, calling him a few choice names, many of which I borrowed out of the book of 2GB and Nine host Ben Fordham who was as horrified as the rest of us.
And yet still people chose to blames Aysha. It left me feeling incredibly frustrated and sad.