Trigger warning: This post contains an account of domestic abuse that may be triggering for some readers.
As far back as Arman Abrahimzadeh can remember, his childhood was marred by violence and abuse.
“It was a normal thing,” the 29-year-old told Mamamia.
“It got so bad that we were quite literally threatened to be burnt – to be killed – in our family home, so we decided to pack our bags and leave.”
Arman, whose family moved from Iran to Australia when he was 10, suffered near constant physical and psychological abuse from his father, alongside his sisters and mother, throughout his growing up years.
His Afghan-born father, Ziaollah, struggled to adjust to life in a new country and relieved his resentment by tormenting his family.
A year after Arman fled with his mother, Zahra, older sister, Atena, and younger sister, Anita, Ziaollah tracked them down, even in spite of their tireless efforts to keep hidden.
Ziaollah was hell-bent on carrying out the threat he had made against his wife and in March 2010, he managed it in the most horrific way possible.
It was Persian New Year’s Eve and Zahra was with Atena at an event at the Adelaide Convention, when he snuck in with a knife.
Arman and his two sisters. Image supplied.
In front of their daughter and 300 strangers, he stabbed his wife eight times.
When Arman arrived at the centre his 44-year-old mother was lifeless in a pool of her own blood.