My boyfriend raped me dozens of times when I was pregnant and threatened to ‘kick our baby out’ of me
Maria Smith, 32, from Lancashire, was attacked by vile Darren Charles Belton, now 48, whle expecting their first child in 2017.
He would abuse her multiple times a week and threatened to “kick the baby out of her” if she told anyone what he was doing. Terrified Maria kept quiet, being abused “near enough every day”.
Belton was jailed for a string of offences against Maria in February. Maria, a stay-at-home mum, has shared her story in a bid to help other domestic violence victims.
She told Fabulous Digital: “I felt trapped throughout our relationship. Darren was the father of my child and should have looked after me. Instead he viciously attacked me.
“I’ll tell my daughter about her dad though. I’ve no choice. She deserves to know. I’d never lie to her about anything and I’m not going to start with this.”
Maria met Darren in June 2016 at a mutual friend’s house in Essex. Maria said: “I thought he was handsome and when he asked me out for dinner I was really excited.
“I hadn’t dated in years so I was nervous too though. In 2014 I had lost a daughter Annabella after she was born three months premature. She survived for four days after birth and burying her was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
“I was devastated and heartbroken. I’d already broken up with her father and it took me a long time to want to date again, but things felt different with Darren.”
After their first date, the couple became official and within two weeks Darren moved in with Maria. She said: “I was smitten with him. We were moving fast but it felt right.
What constitutes controlling and coercive behaviour?
Stopping you from seeing friends or family
Controlling your cash
Criticising you
Controlling what you wear
Spying on you
Scaring you
Embarrassing you
Forcing you to do something you don’t want to do
Monitoring your time
Threatening to reveal your secrets
“Darren treated me like a princess, taking me out for dinner and paying for everything. I’m only 5ft 3in while Darren is 6ft. I felt safe and protected by him.”
But that month, June 2016, Darren’s behaviour changed and he became possessive and jealous.
If Maria was on her phone, Darren demanded to know who she was speaking to.
She said: “He told me ‘You don’t need friends, you have me.’ By this point he refused to let me leave the house without him.”
The same month Darren and Maria were watching television when suddenly he pinned her to the sofa and started to strangle her.
She said: “I was confused and asked him what he was doing once he’d stopped. He apologised but I was too frightened to continue questioning him.”
From then on, Maria was terrified of Darren, who would lock her in the house whenever he went out.
But one day in September 2016, Darren forgot to lock the door. Maria escaped and fled to a women’s refuge where Darren bombarded her with calls and texts promising to change.
Maria said: “I refused to take him back. But a week later, I discovered I was pregnant. I told Darren and he said he wanted us to be a proper family and begged me to come home.
“After losing one child, I was distraught at the thought of losing another and couldn’t bear to go through the pregnancy alone. So I agreed to give Darren a second chance.”
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At first, Darren was a loving boyfriend once more. Then in December 2016, when Maria was four months pregnant, he launched a horrific attack.
She said: “I’d gone to bed exhausted but Darren grabbed my hand and shoved it down his trousers. I tried to pull my hand away but he was too strong.
“Then he pulled down my pyjamas and raped me. I struggled and begged him not to but he refused to listen. I felt so violated.”
For the next three months, Darren raped Maria several times a week in a series of attacks.
She said: “I just prayed for my unborn child to be OK. I felt trapped in the relationship and worried that the assaults and stress would trigger another premature labour.
“I asked Darren to leave me alone but he said ‘It’s not rape if you’re my girlfriend,’ and that if I told anyone ‘he’d kick the baby out of me.’ I knew I needed to escape.”
In January 2017, Darren forgot his key when he left the house – with the door unlocked, Maria packed a bag and fled. She hid at a friend’s house and ignored Darren’s calls.
Three days later, she returned to her home to find the back porch windows were smashed and someone had tried to rip off the door.
Maria said: “I knew it was Darren. I called the police and reported the break-in. Officers took swabs of blood from the smashed glass.
“A week later, police confirmed that it was Darren who had tried to break in. I felt sick and realised I needed to tell them the truth. So I told them Darren had been raping me.”
That day, he was arrested and charged.
Rape and sexual assault
All rape and sexual assault is serious. The terms rape and ‘sexual assault’ are used simply to differentiate between two types of offence. So what’s the difference?
Rape is when a person intentionally penetrates another’s vagina, anus or mouth with a penis, without the other person’s consent. Assault by penetration is when a person penetrates another person’s vagina or anus with any part of the body other than a penis, or by using an object, without the person’s consent.
The overall definition of sexual or indecent assault is an act of physical, psychological and emotional violation in the form of a sexual act, inflicted on someone without their consent. It can involve forcing or manipulating someone to witness or participate in any sexual acts.
Not all cases of sexual assault involve violence, cause physical injury or leave visible marks. Sexual assault can cause severe distress, emotional harm and injuries which can’t be seen – all of which can take a long time to recover from. This is why we use the term ‘assault’, and treat reports just as seriously as those of violent, physical attacks.
In May 2017, Maria gave birth to a healthy baby girl, now 18 months.
And in February 2018, Darren Charles Belton, 48, of Chelmsford, Essex, was found guilty of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, one count of controlling or coercive behaviour and one count of criminal damage.
He was jailed for nine years with an added four years on licence.
He was also given a 10-year restraining order against Maria and forced to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Shockingly the court heard he “doesn’t think he had done anything wrong”.
Essex Live reported Ranna Sheikh, mitigating on behalf of him, told the court: “He thinks he hasn’t done anything wrong. In his mind he doesn’t impose as a risk.”
Maria said: “I felt sick hearing that. How can he not have posed a risk? He raped me so many times. I’m so pleased with his sentence.
“One day, I’ll tell my little girl about her dad. When she is old enough she needs to know.
“But she will never meet him. It’s me and her against the world and I’ll be the best mum I can be.”
New domestic abuse laws made “coercive or controlling behaviour” a criminal offence on December 29 2015.
The Office for National Statistics said police forces recorded only 4,246 cases of coercive or controlling behaviour in the 12 months to March 2017, the most recent figures available.
“Psychological abuse comes in many forms such as financial, control but mainly it’s all about causing fear,” Lucy Hadley, campaign and public affairs officer for national domestic violence charity Women’s Aid, told Fabulous.
“Abuse of this type is about confinement and isolation as well. It’s about a repeated, consistent behaviour and it’s about monitoring and obsessing over every part of their life to ensure they feel scared.”
If you are being abused contact the National Domestic Abuse Violence freephone helpline on 0808 2000 247.
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