CONTENT WARNING: This article contains descriptions of psychological, physical and sexual violence, as well as references to suicide. Helplines can be found at the bottom of the page. A woman who complained to police about being stalked by her ex-husband only discovered Corrections had allowed him to travel near her hometown when she found a threatening message stashed in her letterbox. The hand-delivered envelope contained magazine cutouts of words such as “murder”, “kill” and “nightmare” along with photos of spades in dirt. “At first I was like, ‘What is this? Is this mail that I’ve missed?’ I sort of looked at it, then I saw the words and my hands started shaking,” said Emma, whose name has been changed to protect her safety. Corrections has apologised to Emma after failing to notify her about her ex’s plan to travel in the area. He was sentenced to prison for breach of a protection order and abuse of a child. Emma wrote in a letter to government ministers and advocacy groups that she shouldn’t have found out her ex had been granted permission to travel for her district “after threatening material appears in my letter box”. Emma was in a relationship with her ex for several years, and said it was marred by abuse from early on. She told the Herald she vividly remembers the first time he physically attacked her. An envelope containing threatening magazine cutouts was left in Emma's letterbox. “I don’t think I’ve lost any sight of that memory. It has really stuck with me,” she said. “I guess it’s probably the ... basis of my fear of him because I know exactly how far he can go and how strong he is.” The pair were having an argument and he would not let her leave, she said. Eventually she fled outside and hid in a shed, hoping he would go to bed or leave the house. After 20 minutes in hiding, Emma ventured back inside, only to discover her partner was hiding behind the back door. “He pinned me up by my neck, and he’s choking me, and as I’m struggling to breathe I can feel the constriction against my Adam’s apple and I think I’m going to die,” she said. “He’s like, ‘If you ever do that to me again, I’m going to kill you.’” While much of the abuse after that was emotional or psychological, Emma said there were still instances of physical attacks to remind her of the threat he posed to her safety. One such incident happened when she was holding her week-old baby at home, she said. Emma said they had argued about finances, and her partner, who was holding a freshly brewed takeaway coffee, threw the drink over Emma and the newborn. “In these moments, there are little things that stick out. You just don’t forget the look of the coffee streaming down the kitchen window, or the fact that you’re holding this just over a week-old baby and ... you’ve had boiling hot coffee thrown at you.” Thankfully, the baby was swaddled at the time and Emma was able to shield the child from the burning hot liquid, but said she suffered some “pretty horrific burns” herself. Over the course of the relationship, Emma said, her partner would pressure and control her, questioning her when she spoke to men, pushing her to quit breastfeeding and switch to bottle feeding, and coercing her into postpartum sex, saying it was her “biblical duty”. “Over time, I learned not to look up when out in public together, in case I was accused of having eyes for someone else. To this day, I remain acutely aware of how I look at or talk to men,” she said. She also alleged he sexually abused her, which she often endured in silence to avoid waking children. Stalking, surveillance followed break up Things did not improve after the pair broke up. He would drive past or sit across the road from her house, sending messages asking about who was visiting her and why, she said. Her ex would also show up at places Emma went, like the supermarket or park, and appeared to be tracking her movements. “Once he messaged asking if I ‘really needed that second coffee today’, revealing...