Domestic violence survivor shares her story in hopes of helping others

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - One Shreveport woman knows all too well that when it comes to domestic abuse, Louisiana is the second most dangerous state for women.

Jakare Fecunda, 24, nearly lost her life at the hands of her abuser.

She lost a kidney and part of her liver and has nerve damage from being stabbed six times all over her body.

Jakare says she can remember her ex-boyfriend Adam Martin stabbing her in the head because she could hear it in her skull.

She spent eight days in ICU and nearly a month in the hospital.

“He was trying to kill me. And it is nothing short of a miracle that I am here.”

Petrina Jenkins, who has worked with abused women for more than 20 years, said: “We know the most dangerous time for a woman is leaving.”

Jakare had just broken it off with Martin earlier in the day. She says he kept hanging around her house into the evening.

“He asked me to go for a walk so we could talk about things. I got to a point where I stopped and said, ‘What’s going on with you? What’s wrong?’ And he said ‘Nothing, I love you.’

“That was the last thing he ever said to me,” Jakare recalls. "And after that, he went for my stomach, stabbing me twice.”

She was stabbed several more times and eventually played dead so he would stop.

Martin has since been convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 80 years in prison with no benefit of parole or probation.

While Martin likely never will see freedom again, that doesn’t erase Jakare’s pain.

“No matter how long the sentence, every day for the rest of my life I have to wake up and see what he has done to me. I have to see these scars."

Jakare is warning other women to leave when the abuse first happens.

She admits she didn’t recognize the warning signs. She says she thought a little shove or hand around the neck was normal.

Many women live in fear every day because of the fear of victim blaming, Jakare adds.

“We do live in a victim-blaming society," Petrina opined. “Oftentimes, we are asked, ‘Well, you chose that person. Why didn’t you know something had to happen? What did you do to incite such violence?'”

Jakare now encourages others by telling her story. She says several people have reached out to her on social media by messaging her their stories.

Earlier this month, Jakare was presented the Trey Hutchison Civilian of the Year Award during a banquet hosted by the Caddo-Bossier Domestic Violence Task Force.

Hutchison, a Bossier City police officer, was killed during a domestic violence call in 2004.

If you are a victim of domestic abuse, you can call the 24-hour hotline at Project Celebration at (318) 226-5015.

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