I was evicted from a women’s refuge after trying to kill myself: Domestic abuse survivor speaks out – as whistleblower lifts lid on safe house where victims were ‘not seen as human’
- For help and support call the Samaritans on 116 123 or go to samritans.org
- Contact the National Domestic Abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247
- Have you lived in a Hestia refuge? Email [email protected]
A domestic abuse charity evicted a vulnerable woman from a refuge while she was in hospital after attempting to kill herself, MailOnline can reveal.
Lindiwe Maqhubela, from London, fled her abusive home during the pandemic in July 2020, spending the next two years living in a refuge in south London run by charities Refuge and then Hestia.
Once Hestia took over her care in 2021, Lindiwe, who is not being pictured for her safety, was faced with eviction notices on at least two occasions, including one which was served to her while in hospital for an attempt on her life, giving her just 48 hours to vacate the premises.
A staff whistleblower, Mary, has claimed there was a ‘pattern of abuse’ towards the women living under Hestia’s care and described how managers saw them as ‘opponents’ rather than victims of abuse. She said: ‘They see the women as below [members of staff], they don’t see them as human.’
Outside of Lindi’s case, Mary made a series of allegations concerning different women who passed through the refuge while she was employed there, including:
- That one woman was ‘bullied into leaving’ the refuge after being treated so poorly by staff that she ran away – with managers making no effort to trace her or find out if she was safe;
- That staff mistreated residents who were still in touch with their abusers, and openly disparaged them as mothers;
- That subsistence payments owed to residents by the charity were often paid late or incomplete;
- That women were pressured to speak about their trauma against their will, despite warnings from case workers this was harming them;
- That managers refused to believe medical professionals as regards women’s mental health issues or risk-levels;
- That the refuge had no conflict resolution in the case of complaints;
- That management showed no desire to ensure those leaving their care were safe or were engaging with external services.
MailOnline put all of these allegations to Hestia. None of them were denied.
Lindiwe Maqhubela, from London, was in hospital (pictured) when Hestia staff signed an eviction notice for her – then neglected to tell her about it
After being evicted from the refuge, Lindiwe had to move into an empty flat with no furniture, carpets or even a fridge
It was Wednesday, September 7 2022 when Mary walked into Lindiwe’s room to find her holding a knife and attempting to take her own life.
Two days prior, Lindiwe had overheard a conversation between the whistleblower and the manager for Hestia, who was insisting Lindiwe left the refuge within days despite Mary’s protests that, as a high-risk victim of domestic abuse, being forced to move into accommodation that was not ready would be harmful to her.
Lindiwe had just secured a permanent place to live, but it was completely empty of furniture or basic fittings, including no bed, no carpets and no fridgefreezer. Mary pointed this out to her manager, adding that Lindiwe’s mental health team had told the refuge she could not move into an empty flat and that if this occurred she would be at risk of suicide.
Both Lindiwe and Mary said the manager’s response was: ‘I don’t care. If she does something to herself, that’s on her.’
Describing her conversation with the manager, who MailOnline is choosing not to name, Mary said: ‘She spoke as if Lindiwe’s death was of no loss to anyone.
‘Her attitude shocked and traumatised me, especially as I had spent a year safeguarding my clients.
‘She spoke to me as if I was an idiot who needed to be told my place.’
Lindiwe was subsequently rushed to a local hospital in the afternoon of September 7.
Despite nurses instructing her that she was not to travel to the hospital alone, Mary said Hestia management forbid either of the staff members from the refuge from accompanying her.
The same managers who were informed of Lindiwe’s suicide attempt signed an eviction notice the next day, which was posted under her door in her absence. They then insisted on calling Lindi from her hospital bed, and failed to mention they had begun eviction proceedings.
Lindiwe said she only found out she was being evicted when she returned to the refuge 48 hours after being admitted on the night of Friday, September 9. The notice, seen by MailOnline, gave her until Monday morning to vacate the refuge.
Lindiwe described Hestia staff at the refuge in Twickenham as ‘uncaring’, saying they were ‘horrible to all of us.’
She said: ‘I was released from hospital and there was an eviction notice shoved under my door. They did not care about me. I was given 48 hours to leave the refuge or they would call the police.
‘They banned my case worker from coming to the hospital with me and told her to switch off her phone.
‘I was medicated, I’d tried to kill myself and they gave me an eviction notice.’
Managers at Hestia had previously tried to evict Lindiwe along with several other residents a week after taking over the refuge from the charity Refuge, but they were forced to allow her to stay after her mental health crisis team intervened to prevent it.
Lindiwe said: ‘Hestia’s management wouldn’t listen to any of us. They treated us like imbeciles. They were constantly talking over us.’
Describing why she wanted to speak out about her ordeal, Lindiwe said: ‘I had no choice but to go to a refuge. A lot of women were stuck in the same situation.
‘I want to highlight what happened to me, but also what happened to the other women living there. How many times do we have to keep rehashing our trauma to make them take us seriously?’
Mary told MailOnline managers were constantly seeking to ‘get rid’ of the vulnerable women who were staying there, many of whom had young children.
She said: ‘It’s a numbers game. They were treated like children.’
Lindiwe lived under Hestia at the refuge for a year (Pictured: Her room in the refuge)
Hestia CEO Patrick Ryan, pictured left meeting Princess Eugenie in 2022, told MailOnline the ‘safety and wellbeing’ of the women living in Hestia’s refuges is their ‘priority’
She told how several of the residents she worked with were issued eviction notices ‘for no apparent reason’, adding the actions of managers ‘severely inhibited’ the ability of herself and case workers from building up trust with the women they were trying to help.
Arriving at the refuge in 2021, Mary said: ‘I remember being bewildered by how senior managers would tell me at the time these women were ‘problems’, they were pitched as opponents from the get go.’
She described how one manager repeatedly refused to believe that the women in the refuge had mental health issues or were at serious risk of harm, ignoring medical professionals’ opinions in the process.
On one occasion, after one of the women attempted suicide, the manager is alleged to have suggested the woman, who was in hospital, was ‘faking’ it, adding: ‘She’s just acting up.’
Mary claims she repeatedly shouted at, belittled and dismissed when attempting to advocate for the residents of the refuge. After Lindiwe’s suicide attempt, she was left traumatised and unable to return to work due to the attitude of her managers.
This left Lindiwe without anyone to help her move out of the refuge, and she claims she received no support whatsoever in the aftermath of her eviction.
READ MORE: Domestic abusers will be tagged when they leave prison as part of pilot scheme to protect and reassure victims
Mary explained staff have a duty of care to refuge leavers and believes this was a ‘deliberate attempt to damage her mental health.’
She added: ‘It was very traumatising and scary, it was like I was in the Twilight Zone.’
Following her eviction, Lindiwe made a complaint through Hestia’s internal complaints procedure, but appealed their response after none of her claims were upheld by the manager at the time.
Responding to her complaint, Hestia seemed to admit they had issued the first eviction notice ‘illegally’ to Lindiwe.
The letter, dated two years ago, stated: ‘The eviction was served illegally, it could have been served more appropriately and more sensitivity could have been shown.’
But when contacted by MailOnline, a spokesperson for Hestia described this as an ‘extremely unfortunate error’, adding that the letter should have read ‘legally’.
Our reporter passed this information onto Lindiwe, who was left ‘shocked’ by the news – and questioned why she had not been informed of this earlier.
At the time of the first eviction notice, Lindiwe’s parents had both recently died.
Patrick Ryan, Chief Executive of Hestia said: ‘The safety and wellbeing of the thousands of women we support is always our most important priority.
‘While we can’t comment on individual cases, we take any allegation of behaviour that falls below our high standards very seriously.
‘We are working hard to investigate what happened. We have been in touch with Ms Maqhubela and would welcome the opportunity to meet with her, as well as reaching out to other women who were living in the refuge during that time to understand their experiences.
‘We are also working closely with our staff and independent, third-party partners to make sure any appropriate action is taken.
‘For more than 50 years we have provided support to help people find a life beyond crisis, reaching over 15,000 adults and children last year.
‘As a charity, we work hard to empower the people that we support and welcome their feedback in order to continuously improve our services.’
For help and support call the Samaritans on 116 123 or go to samritans.org for free, confidential advice. Contact the National Domestic Abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247.
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