MIDDLETON, N.S. — It took Jessica Davidson several days to piece together what happened to her after she awoke from a coma.
She’d been shielded from headlines spreading word of the 30-year-old Middleton man facing a charge of attempted murder in relation to a near-fatal domestic assault reported on Jan. 13, 2017.
“When I first woke up, the first thing I saw was my son’s picture and I thought it was my brother who passed away,” Davidson recalled in a recent interview.
She didn’t remember how old her son was, or what year it was. Her head throbbed and attempts to speak through cracked and broken teeth proved excruciating.
“It took a long time for me to even get up to walk,” she said.
Information was shared gradually and sparingly in her critical condition. She had pneumonia and hypothermia. But why?
“I didn’t really know what happened when I woke up,” she said. “Nobody would tell me anything.”
She said the most someone would offer in the early days was that she fell down the stairs. Davidson would soon learn, however, that it was no accident.
She remembers overhearing another patient in the shared hospital room telling a guest that she had read about Davidson’s assault in the paper.
“It was devastating,” said Davidson. “… I was really mad, actually, that somebody could try to hurt my son by taking me away from him.”
Airlifted to Halifax
Police responded to a 911 call for medical assistance at a third-floor apartment on School Street in Middleton around noon on Jan. 13, 2017.
Davidson was airlifted to the QEII hospital in Halifax.
Her live-in boyfriend of nine months, Timothy Lee Lake, was arrested.
The yellow police tape and RCMP Forensic Identification Services vehicles outside of an old wooden apartment building with pale yellow paint and burgundy trim quickly became the talk of the otherwise quiet town.
Davidson was suddenly on the minds of many, and the subject of countless speculative social media posts.
Lake was ultimately charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault and uttering a threat to cause bodily harm.
In an August 2017 provincial court appearance, he pleaded guilty to two charges: aggravated assault and a subsequent charge of breaching recognizance by indirectly contacting the victim on Facebook. The Crown did not proceed with the other charges.
Lake was sentenced to one year in jail, but his time was deemed served because of an extended stay in custody for breaching the conditions of his release that March. In addition, he was sentenced to two years of probation, fined $500 and banned from possessing firearms for 10 years.
Davidson was told that his mental state and her memory loss impacted the duration of the jail sentence.
“It didn’t seem like it was fair at all,” she said.
Living in a nightmare
Davidson experienced some long-term memory loss as a result of her injuries. She said the two weeks before the attack are still largely a blur.
“The last thing I remember is I was breaking up with him, actually,” she said.
She said she had a police officer drive her to her father’s house in Wolfville to get away and she went back to Middleton a few days later to get her belongings.
“I had to take the bus and there was no returning bus, so I had to spend the night there and after that I don’t remember anything, so that must have been roughly around the time that it happened,” she said.
One person is to blame for the abuse that she suffered, and she knows it’s not her.
“It just started out as isolating me away from my friends and my family and then it started to be verbal and then it got abusive physically,” she said.
They moved to Middleton in the fall of 2016 after spending a period of time living in a tent following an eviction from a rental in Kentville. She started dating Lake on the heels of a long-term relationship.
“I wish I kind of would have known his past beforehand and not moved into a relationship so quickly with him,” she said.
“… I wish I would have taken it a little slower and caught the warning signs a little earlier than I did.”
She said things escalated when they moved to Middleton. She was isolated from her personal support network, unable to work and at her boyfriend’s side 24/7.
“It was definitely a nightmare,” she said.
‘Don’t keep it a secret’
Davidson would later learn that she was thrown down a couple flights of stairs and left in a snowbank for a period of time before the assault was reported.
She awoke from a coma five days after the attack, confused and suffering from two brain bleeds. But she sees things clearer today.
“I know that what he did just wasn’t right and I’m worth a lot more than that,” she said.
She said she awoke with burn marks on her head and four teeth that were broken after being hit with a frying pan.
“I had a dentist who donated his time and effort fixing my teeth for me after that, so that was nice,” she said. “I had a lot of support afterwards and it helped a lot.”
It took about eight months to recover to the point that she regained some independence.
Now that she’s reclaimed her voice with the help of speech therapists and counselling services, she intends to use it to help others.
“I was very ashamed to ask for help and I shouldn’t have been because it’s not worth your life and I didn’t know how far it could go until it was too late,” she said.
“Even the littlest signs of abuse can turn into something major really fast and it’s not worth it.”
She hopes anyone reading her story who starts to suspect that a relationship could be abusive will reach out to a trusted loved one or service provider to get help.
“If they’re in that situation, I hope it helps them realize that they’re in that situation and they can find a way out no matter what,” she said. “They don’t have to take the abuse.”
She recommends talking about it with loved ones when possible, or reaching out to emergency service providers and local shelters, such as Chrysalis House in Kentville.
“Talk about what’s going on,” she said. “Don’t keep it a secret.”
‘I’m living life for me’
Davidson is engaged to be married to the father of her two young children in October. She’s the proud mother of Ethan Cox, 17-month-old Jasper Gee and four-month-old Trixie Gee.
“When I woke up, it was seeing Ethan that made me want to fight for a better life,” she said of her teenage son. “Now I have all three of my babies to fight for.”
She leaned on family and the former flame she excitedly calls her fiancée today to get back on her feet.
The 32-year-old working mom dreams of buying a house someday and raising her children on a small hobby farm.
“My life has become much better,” she said.
“I’m more open and I know where my safety blankets are, and I’m having a great life now that I’m living life for me and not for somebody else.”
Chrysalis House can help
Chrysalis House executive director Ginger MacPhee said there is a long list of red flags to watch for in relationships, including isolation, dishonesty, harm, threats and controlling behaviours.
“For people that are in a relationship that’s unhealthy, sometimes a lot of those signals that it is unhealthy can be difficult to see once you’re in the relationship. It’s more likely that other people around you will see it before you will,” she said.
“Often, too, women will minimize the harm and give reasons why maybe those behaviours are happening and excuses for what might be happening.”
She said the pandemic adds to the isolation elements for many, making it harder for some to see signs that something is awry.
“The key parts are around the fear and the safety, those levels that take it to something more harmful and threatening,” she said.
Connection can be more difficult during the pandemic, but it is also vital.
“What we really need is for a change in how we view relationships and how it should be unacceptable for people to be treated with abuse,” said MacPhee.
Chrysalis House typically hosts between 90 and 100 women at its Annapolis Valley shelter each year. The organization is in the process of building a bigger shelter in order to be able to accommodate more women and children at one time.
“A better space will allow us to do more,” said MacPhee, noting that the new shelter should be ready in the spring.
If the shelter is full, Chrysalis House will offer alternative outreach services based on the individual’s wants and needs.
“I would like them to know that we’re here and that they matter to us and that they are in control of what they’re doing, and we’re here to offer them support and help in the way that they need it,” said MacPhee.
“Even if we are full when they call, we will try to help them find somewhere safe to be.”
Chrysalis House can be reached 24/7 for support. They gladly take calls from individuals in need of assistance and concerned citizens wanting to know how to help someone else. In case of emergencies, call 911.
Did you know?
In 2019, Kings District RCMP responded to 358 calls for service relating to domestic violence. In that same year, Annapolis District RCMP responded to 181 reports of domestic violence, and police in West Hants were dispatched to 81.
Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mark Skinner said the statistics reflect reported incidents that were categorized by a survey code.
“When we say domestic violence, this does not necessarily mean a charge has been laid, just that the incident is related to domestic violence enough that there is a tracking code associated to it,” he said.
He added that it is possible there were other incidents involving domestic violence that were coded differently.
He said the 2020 statistics are still under review.
