(Memphis) A man is locked-up after police say he took his ex-girlfriends clothes and set them on fire.
Police say Shaun Brown not only burned her clothes, but her make-up and even threw her diploma in a trash can, and torched them.
The woman didn’t want to show her face on camera, but says even though Brown is in jail, she’s afraid when he’s released he’ll back at her door.
She says he’s done a lot of things and destroying her stuff is nothing new.
“He’s choked me. He has smashed my head into a window,” she said. “He slashed my truck and smashed my computer.”
Now she says her ex-boyfriend lit her entire wardrobe on fire.
She says Brown even sent her text messages Monday night letting her know he was doing it.
“He is mentally abusive,” she said.
He texted her a picture showing he had even burned-up her cosmetology diploma.
“He burned all my pictures,” she said.
Domestic violence experts say the person who did this act was sending a dangerous message.
“The message is ‘I can do this and worse to you,’” said Dottie Jones, who is with the Memphis and Shelby County Domestic and Sexual Violence Council.
We caught up with the victim as she was filing a restraining order against Brown.
“I broke up with him last October and he wouldn’t leave,” she said.
He lives with her in an East Memphis home.
“That’s my house,” she said. “That`s where I put all my money, everything I had, I put into that house.”
It’s a place that Jones says she should not have to leave.
“We can`t allow that. As a society we have to quit allowing that to happen,” said Jones. “He needs to understand that there will be consequences if he goes home.”
This time, the woman hopes after years of abuse, with a protection order and police help, Brown won’t be back.
“That`s my house,” she said. “That`s my house and he will not be there.”
“You are going to call the police if he shows up?” asked reporter Sabrina Hall.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I am not going to let him ruin me again.”
Brown is in jail on a $5,000 bond. Authorities plan to serve him that protection order while he’s still locked up.
If this situation sounds familiar to you, you’re encouraged to call the YWCA Crisis Hotline at 901-725-4277.
