A MOTHER subjected her former sister-in-law to two years of physical abuse during which she cut off her hair and forced her to work naked as a slave, a court has been told.
Veronica Sandeman was allegedly kicked, punched, beaten with a studded leather belt, hit by a rolling pin and attacked with scissors.
The young woman, now aged 26, is said to have been kept as a prisoner behind the closed doors of a house in York. Her clothes were burnt, she was denied food, had no money and was forbidden any contact with her parents.
York Crown Court heard that the systematic abuse suffered by Miss Sandeman, who is originally from Dundee, came at the hands of her brother’s ex-wife, Antonia Pearson-Gaballonie, 35, a mother of six. The older woman’s reign of terror finally ended after a particularly brutal attack in which she held a knife to Miss Sandeman’s throat and threatened to kill her, the court heard.
Her bruised and battered victim escaped after finding some men’s clothes in the garage. She fled to a neighbour’s house.
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Mrs Pearson-Gaballonie denies false imprisonment, making threats to kill and six counts of assault causing actual bodily harm. Her second husband, Neil Pearson, also 35, denies one charge of aiding and abetting an assault.
The jury heard that Miss Sandeman was 17 when she first moved to live with her brother, Stephen, a soldier, and Mrs Pearson-Gaballonie after he was posted from Scotland to York in 1997.
Andrew Kershaw, for the prosecution, said that she had moved to York to act as a nanny to the couple’s baby. Mrs Pearson-Gaballonie, who had two children from an earlier relationship, subsequently had a second child with Miss Sandeman’s brother.
The couple married, but their relationship broke down when he was posted to Wiltshire. Miss Sandeman stayed in York with Mrs Pearson-Gaballonie and the children. A fifth was born, by another man, in 2001.
Mr Kershaw said that the first physical attack came on New Year’s Eve in 2002, when Miss Sandeman’s father phoned her in the house on her mobile phone. Mrs PearsonGaballonie flew into a rage and punched her so hard in the face that her cheek burst open.
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The court heard that the abuse did not stop when Mrs Pearson-Gaballonie began a relationship with Mr Pearson, a garage worker and doorman. They had a child and married.
On Christmas Eve 2004, Miss Sandeman was allegedly whipped on her bare back and a day later Mr Pearson grabbed Miss Sandeman’s wrists while his wife cut off her hair with a pair of scissors and jabbed at her face, which was covered in blood, before beating her with a rolling pin. Mr Pearson is said to have intervened only when his wife held a knife to Miss Sandeman’s throat. She finally escaped two days later.
Under cross-examination, Miss Sandeman broke down in tears after being accused repeatedly of fabricating her story.
Geraldine Kelly, defending Mrs Pearson-Gaballonie, said: “You are lying about Antonia ever hitting you, and you are adding bits of detail into your account to embelish your lies.”
Miss Sandeman replied: “I know where I got those bruises and I know who did them.”
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The trial continues.