Lani's Story

Lani Brennan, a young woman of Aboriginal and Maori descent, was raised in an urban Aboriginal community in Sydney. Her childhood home was filled with love but alcoholism and violence was also part of life. By 13, she was in a cycle of drug and alcohol abuse herself. She ends up in a relationship with a young Aboriginal man from her community and soon becomes trapped in a situation she almost doesn’t survive.

She is subjected to extreme physical and sexual violence at the hands of her partner, who maintains a hold over her by threatening her family and through the shame she feels for what has happened to her. Her father and mother worry for her safety but are powerless to help her. Others stand by and watch the violence, paralysed by fear and trapped within a pattern of inaction – an expectation that they will keep quiet and say nothing.

Lani’s partner senses she is going to leave him and a particularly vicious night of violence ensues. It is after this night, where Lani faces death many times, that she finds courage to finally leave, works at healing herself and gets sober.
 
Then she meets John, the man who will become her partner, the father of her children and the reason why she seeks justice for the crimes committed against her. John gradually pieces together what Lani has gone through, he “listens to her dreams” and realises she has not just been physically abused but has also been raped. Despite his own negative experiences with the justice system he encourages Lani to go to the police.

Lani’s family are opposed to her putting her faith in the courts; this path also goes against Lani's own code of behaviour,  but she comes to a realisation that she must speak up against what happened to her.

She makes a full statement to the police and waits for them to act. And waits –  it takes three years for the police to act on her statement and apprehend her ex-partner.

In court, Lani becomes a victim again, forced to relive her experiences on the stand and face the man who attacked her for the first time since she left him. But as hard as the experience is, the battle she faces in court each day gives her strength and she is driven to see the process through to the end. That end is a victory for Lani with a 33-year sentence for her ex-partner.

Lani has become a role model for Aboriginal women. She has changed the outlook of women in her own life by finding the strength to stand up against violence. She wins her battle in the courts and she now has a home, five children and a new life. But the struggle has not ended for Lani. She will never be able to remove the scars she bears, both physical and emotional, and yet her story is one of hope for all women.