A Texas woman has been left devastated after learning of her husband's despicable plans after informing him that she was expecting his child.

Following a decade of marriage, Catherine Herring was left devasted after she learned that her husband - Mason, a 39-year-old attorney - had been sending intimate texts to his female colleague back in 2022, The Sun reports.

After making the discovery, Mason moved out of the family home and away from Catherine and their two children. However, things took a complicated turn when Catherine learned she was pregnant.

The news led to Mason spending more time with his family, and Catherine - believing that the news could be a chance to repair their marriage - once again allowed her husband to stay in the family home.

But this dream came crashing down when Mason offered to make his pregnant wife breakfast in bed before leaving for work. Sadly, this usually romantic gesture spelled the end of their marriage - as Catherine learned of her husband's true intentions.

Instead of a nutritious and satisfying meal, Mason returned to the bedroom with a biscuit and glass of water.

Catherine recalled: "He starts urging me, like, ‘Chug it, I need to go’, and he kind of had anger in his voice." As Mason became increasingly irate, she inspected the glass further and noticed that the water was cloudy.

After her husband left for work, Catherine began to suffer from agonizing stomach cramps and started to bleed from her vagina. Fearing that she had been poisoned, she was swiftly rushed to a nearby hospital where she remained for several days battling the symptoms.

"I just wanted desperately to be wrong," she said. "I wanted there to be another explanation, because this is your husband who you love and adore and have children with."

However, court documents reveal that she soon started to collect evidence against Mason - which included taking samples of drinks he had made for her.

Eventually, Mason requested a divorce - and this was the catalyst for Catherine submitting her samples to a private investigator, who later revealed that the liquids had tested positive for misoprostol, a chemical that can be used to induce an abortion.

As well as the samples, Catherine discovered open packets of Cyrux in her trash - a medication that is usually used to treat stomach ulcers but also contains misoprostol. The devastated wife then used hidden cameras around their home in order to catch Mason spiking a cranberry juice he had offered to get for her.

With all the evidence she needed, Catherine went to the police and Mason was arrested and charged with assault to induce abortion.

But Catherine did not get the justice she was seeking, as Mason accepted a plea deal to one count of injury to a child under 15 - which led to him being sentenced to just 180 days in prison. The father was also banned from seeing their youngest daughter, whom Catherine welcomed just months after Mason's arrest.

Sadly, their daughter was born premature, has experienced developmental delays, and has to rely on a feeding tube. Catherine also told the court that her daughter has to go to therapy eight times a week, the New York Post reports.

"I do not believe that 180 days is justice for attempting to kill your child seven separate times," the mom told the court. "For two years, my husband has overtly denied this assault, and I'm grateful today that he has finally admitted to his guilt."

Featured image credit: Harris County Sheriff's Office

For ten years, Mina* was in a "coercive, abusive relationship".

"He controlled everything. Everything. My finances, what I ate, where I went, who I saw," she tells me. "Everything I did was criticised. Everything I did was wrong. Every advice I followed, including his own, was contradicted."

But while the threat became more "immediate" when the first coronavirus lockdown began in the UK, it also proved to be the last straw for Mina. She knew she had to escape or, as she states, "I would die, through his hands, or mine."

Mina's story of domestic abuse

Within the first month of her relationship, Mina had already been raped. But she told herself it was nothing.

"My ex is intelligent, articulate and convinced of his own righteousness," she says. "He was able to play on my insecurities. I believed that I was getting this treatment because he loved me.

"He said he was training me because I was so useless. His voice was always there in my head, micromanaging and dissecting everything I did. Nothing I did was ever right. Before long I could not remember what I was good at. He was gaslighting me every day."

Mina worked two, sometimes three jobs, while she studied full time – and her abuser pocketed every penny. So, when she received a reduction in pay, she was too scared to tell him.

"When the physical abuse began to increase, I was terrified of making him angry," she explains. "I took out payday loans to cover my tracks. When he inevitably discovered this, he took my bank cards and keys and his control became absolute. From then on, I could not make a move without his approval."

Financial control

"I could only travel as much as he allowed. He gave me money each month for a travel pass, usually late, sometimes forcing me to walk two hours to work," she continues. "When clothes or shoes fell apart, he would not replace them. I began stealing small change from him until I had enough to buy shoes in Poundland. I bought books from charity shops and read them secretly as I was not allowed to read."

Mina became ill in 2018, and had to take time off work. But this forced her to pay more attention to her situation.

One day, while her partner was out, she shared a coffee with a female friend, who broached the topic of Mina's mental health, and how she felt about herself. By approaching it in this manner, Mina was not tempted to jump to her ex's defence.

"I had been told for years that I was worth less than a piece of sh*t on my ex’s shoe," Mina tells me. "I thought I was nothing. [My friend] showed me, quite plainly and logically, that I was worthy of love. From that day, I began to see I did deserve better. That was the start of coming back to myself. Over the next months, I began – without even realising it – gradually distancing myself."

Domestic abuse during the coronavirus pandemic

Lockdown, however, made the threat more "immediate", and everything became more intense, and more quickly. "I could see in his eyes that there was a good chance there would be an explosion if he was not sent back to the office soon."

After several fits of rage – which involved grappling, hands around the neck, and a power drill thrown into her back – Mina knew it was time.

"More than that, I knew I could finally do it," Mina reveals. "I texted my boss at the weekend to ask to come into work the following Monday. She was ready for me."

Escaping domestic abuse

Mina's employers had long known that something was wrong. She used to come into work in shabby clothes, with no handbag, and often without a proper lunch.

Her boss, a female, had put up a Woman's Aid poster – the Pattern of Abuse – in all of the toilets. "I [used to look] at it every day, quite casually thinking: 'Yup. He has said that. And that. And that.' but I was not ready to admit that this was abuse."

But this time, it was different. Initially, she told her boss that she wanted to go to a women's refuge, but as a working professional, she earnt too much to be eligible for housing benefit.

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"I would have had to pay over £340 a week," Mina says. "But I had not had any access to my money for ten years! This angers me: does the government think abuse only happens to poor people? So many people are forced to stay in an abusive situation, especially if they have children because they do not have access to their finances."

Support network

Ultimately, Mina and her boss drew up a plan for her to return to her native Holland. Together they booked a Eurostar ticket for the next day, and her employer wrote her a letter to show to passport control saying that she had a legitimate reason for travel as the borders were closed due to the pandemic.

"This letter proved invaluable. Each time I was asked for a valid reason for travel, both at the hotel and at every point of border control, I could not get the words out, I could not say that I was fleeing abuse. So I just showed my letter each time, and I was met with kindness and understanding immediately."

Mina's recovery

When Mina arrived in the Netherlands, she immediately began an intensive 30-day therapy course specifically designed to "come loose" from narcissistic abuse. She used writing to help her process the events that had transpired, and eventually found a suitable therapist.

Despite therapy involving some "really, incredibly hard work that was very painful at times," Mina is reaping the rewards. As she tells me, "I know I will never again be in a position where my past will repeat itself.

"If I can get out of this nightmare, then anyone can. If you are in such a situation and you are still alive and functioning then that is a testimony to your strength and your endurance. There is always someone who will listen. There is always a way, and there is always hope."

Women's Aid

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, the Senior Campaigns and Policy Officer at Women's Aid tells Four Nine that while "the pandemic has heightened the public's awareness of domestic abuse," home continues to be an unsafe place for victims.

"That is why the third national lockdown is yet again a chilling time for Women’s Aid and our national network of life-saving local services," the representative continues. "Our research has shown that perpetrators use Covid restrictions as a weapon of control, and that lockdown measures make it harder to leave an abuser. In 2020, over three-quarters of survivors said they felt they could not get away because of the pandemic."

Mina's story – while in equal parts distressing and inspiring – rings home Women's Aid's mission to support the many women who remain in abusive relationships throughout the pandemic. While the charity welcomes that the UK government has stated that lockdown restrictions do not apply for those experiencing domestic abuse, funding remains their "number one concern".

"Domestic abuse services continue to operate on a shoestring and many of our member services have no financial certainty for the next financial year," Francis-Cansfield tells Four Nine. "It is vital that survivors know they are not alone and that Women’s Aid’s member services remain open and there to support them throughout the pandemic."

If you are suffering from domestic abuse, or know someone who is, please contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.

*Mina's name and some details have been changed to protect her identity. 

What would you be prepared to do to save your own life in the event of a brush with death? Some people able to suddenly perform feats of bravery that they never would have thought themselves capable of in a crisis. One such person is Nadine Crabtree, who narrowly escaped death after her abusive husband torched the house that she and her children were sleeping in, forcing her to leap out of a top floor window and fall to safety to escape the flames.

Nadine, now aged 51, had been married to Tony Wall for only a short time - leaving him because of his controlling and gaslighting behaviour. The couple had originally met on a bus where they struck up a friendship, but when Wall's then-wife died and left him a widower, things turned romantic.

In January 2015 Wall asked her out, and their date blossomed into a committed relationship. They married in July, but Nadine soon learned that Wall was a terrible spouse with a hair-trigger temper, who would explode into rages at the slightest provocation, and was even physically violent. Four months after getting married to him, Nadine had thrown him out of the house, and she thought it was all over. She was wrong.

Two years later Wall returned to Nadine's house and threatened to kill her. In the early hours of April 1, 2017 Nadine's son Jake arrived home around 4am, and smelled a burning smell. Jake woke up his mother and sisters, and Nadine's daughters managed to escape from a downstairs window. Nadine however, was stuck in her room while the house burned, which forced her to jump leap out of a window to safety.

Describing the incident, she stated: "All I could see was thick, black smoke. It felt like everything had slowed down, I was in too much of a daze to panic. It was more amazement. Like, I couldn’t believe this was really happening ... I grabbed some towels and forced my first-floor bedroom window open. Jake and the girls had already got out and ran around the back of the house. I knew I had to jump, but I daren’t."

"I was terrified. Then, Jake screamed at me, ‘Jump Mum, or you’re going to die.’ I leapt out of the window and he somehow managed to catch me. He was so incredibly brave that night. It was only once I was out that the panic set in. I felt like I could barely breathe."

She added, "He seemed so lovely. He was the type of guy to talk to anyone and everyone. I wish I’d realised earlier what he was truly like, and what a nasty, cruel man he is. I’m still traumatised by the fire. I’ve got no idea what he’s thinking, or if he’s still angry. I’m terrified he’s going to come back and try to kill me again."

"He threatened to kill me. I was absolutely terrified. I phoned the police, but there wasn’t a great deal they could do. I started hearing he’d said the same thing to my friends, too. My family and I were scared stiff of him. I’d had no idea. I thought it had just been an awful accident. I’m still in shock that he would do that. I knew he was angry at me, but to target my children as well, while we were all asleep, is horrendous. He could have killed us.”

As a result of the injuries she sustained, Nadine was rushed to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, where she was placed in a week-long induced coma, due to the smoke damage to her lungs. Wall pleaded guilty to arson (it turned out that he had set fire to Jake's motorcycle) and was charged with attempted murder and jailed for eight years. But Nadine will never forget the terror she experienced that night.