Free The Torso in the Canal by John Mooney

to his young lover who didn’t care; she knew him and loved him for being Farah. The relationship was mostly normal until they moved in together, as she would tell:
    ‘I remember what happened the first time that things started to go seriously wrong. I was out with my friend and he started saying that one of my friends was a lesbian, who wanted to sleep with me. I just stood there, thinking that I was hearing things. He kept shouting abuse at my friend saying that she wanted me. It was stupid. That night I was too afraid to go home so I stayed with a friend.
    ‘The next day I went back home and he beat me. This happened every few days from that day onwards. Then the sexual violence started.’
    Noor raped the mother of his child on a frequent basis, every few days. He disregarded her objections to sex out of hand.
    ‘He would just force himself on me—no matter how much I’d resist. He would force me to be with him and would never take no for an answer. This happened every day. It was a nightmare. I thought this was normal because I was very young. I also had a baby to care for and I just was too young to handle the situation. I also didn’t want to admit that I’d made a mistake.’
    The relationship that started out as a loving and caring one now turned into a living hell; Noor beat her on a daily basis.
    ‘I left him twice but when I came back he’d beat me up. He’d then say he was sorry. When he’d hit me, I would fight back. It got so bad that I began to tell my friends and they demanded that I do something. One of them said she’d call my parents if I didn’t leave him and in the end, that’s what happened. She did.’
    Her parents were shocked and horrified to hear the truth. No one had suspected a thing. Alcoholism now consumed Noor. It was not unusual for him to drink 3 litres of vodka a week. This inevitably forced him to lead a dysfunctional life.
    ‘When my parents found out, my Dad came down and collected me. I had been with him from 1998 to 2001. My father and mother could not believe what had been happening because they had treated Farah like one of their own. They were upset. They had no idea of the way he was treating me.’
    Despite his own behaviour and violence, Noor refused to accept the relationship was over. He continued to visit his son every week in the hope of rebuilding the relationship.
    ‘Farah, he was a good father. He was a very loving father to his son and doted on him. He had his own problems with alcohol but I don’t think he was evil or anything like that. He just changed when he drank alcohol. It made him into a different man. There was a time when he was the nicest bloke in the world, but he turned into something else when he drank.’
    His attitude to women continued to deteriorate, however. Alcohol only accelerated this. When the relationship ended, he refused to take no for an answer. It was at this point that he began threatening her.
    ‘He started to follow me around. Everywhere I went he would just turn up. He’d come to the house but then he’d hang around the area. If I went to the shops, he’d be there. If I went out for a drink, he’d turn up at the bar. I was afraid of him. I knew what he was capable of,’ she said referring to the rapes.
    It was during the bitter break-up that Noor made references to the stabbing of Raonaid Murray, the young teenager whose death had convulsed Ireland. One night, while in a drunken rage, he implied that he was her killer. She later recalled the scene:
    ‘There were three of us outside a pub. He knew one of my friends had known Raonaid Murray and he started shouting: “You’re the reason why she’s dead.” My friend went straight to the gardaí because he was trying to suggest he was the killer.’
    She eventually sought and secured a protection order keeping him away from her home, but this didn’t work. Instead it was a new relationship she entered into that drove Noor away.
    ‘When I met my husband, he virtually