EXTRA...

Cape shooting death triggers memories of abuse for reader

“You go to bed with one person and wake up with another"
“I wish this woman well & hope the system will treat her kindly"

She had just read a piece here telling of a young woman being reduced to tears by a foul-mouthed boyfriend who belligerently called her every name in the book while passers-by in South Shore Plaza looked on with horror.    The reader’s name was June and she was horrified, too.

“Mr. Fitzgerald,” she said, in a voice mail message, “I’ve worn those moccasins. That woman must find the sense of self to walk away. She shouldn’t ‘wait and see.’ Now is the time to get real. That was more than just one day in her life; that was the rest of her life. Believe me, I know.”   In a subsequent column June recalled how she, too, had once endured relentless verbal abuse.

“You go to bed with one person and wake up with another,” she explained. “My husband was one of those people who have a knack for being the world’s biggest charmer outside the home and the world’s biggest monster within its walls. Even my own sister wouldn’t believe me when I told her; no one could believe he’d be like that.”  Read the rest of this Herald story here.

Read these other stories and opinions about the Cape Cod case against Ann Gryboski;

• Crude, Rude, Lewd and Stupid to Boot: "She was in handcuffs for murdering her husband after he  abused her son"
• Lancaster murder and mitigating factors: "The Cape and Islands have the highest per-capita rate of domestic violence in Massachusetts, an alarming trend often fueled by substance abuse and the pressures of surviving in a volatile seasonal economy."
  
• Ads exploit bangs for buck$: Would Ann Gryboski, the Cape Cod doctor who allegedly shot and killed her abusive husband this week, get a kick out of the “I Shot My Wife” movie posters that recently decorated Boston’s streets?
• Learning to heal those invisible scars: "I know, because I am a survior.  I divorced 10 years ago and it was the best decision I made for me and my children.  But the scars don't heal easily and the fabric of the family is forever torn.   Mending takes years and lots of work. "