Violet Bradford

Violet Bradford
07/03/06
Age 71
Retired
7 Common Road, South Kirkby,Pontefract,West Yorkshire
She had one brother called Stan and a sister called Betty.
When she was 18 she then married my dad Stanley Bradford
They then had two children me Linda and my brother Colin
Then came six grandchildren: Wayne, Darrell, Jamie, Kayleigh, Mark & John. Then 4 great
grandchildren: Jake, Robbie, Lewis & Olivia.

My mum was brutally murdered and raped in Tunisia on the 07/03/06 by aTunisian National. My mum was
made of stern stuff and loved going on holiday to Tunisia for 20 years with my dad, then when my dad
died in 1998 she started to visit tunisia on her own.

If I could sum my mum up she was a strong lady who was very loving and trusting who loved to holiday
in tunisia. She meant the world to me and I miss her terribly and always will. She was cruelly
taking from me and I feel angry about that, but they have got the man and it is capital punnishment
over there. We are still waiting for the trial so we are in limbo!

My mum had a flat over there and stayed for 3 months at a time, we were worried about her being on
her own in a foriegn country but she assured us she was fine and was always surrounded by her
friends. It was a place where she felt close to my dad. My mum had a daily routine she would make a
5 minute walk to the Sahara Beach Hotel where she would do 50 laps in the swimming pool before
breakfast so she was a fit lady! And then spend the rest of the day sunbathing by the pool, before
returning to her flat at 6 o'clock on the dot every night before it got dark. Then she would
spend the rest of the night at her friend across from her apartment.

On that fateful day of the 07/03/06 my mum had been for her swim and was on her way back to her
apartment at 17:55pm. When a man rode past on a motorbike he tryed to snatch my mums bag! But to no
avail as he tried to grab her bag with my mum hanging on he fell off his bike and got angry! He
dragged my mum in broad daylight into some bushes. The coroner at the inquest said that she
sustained a serious blow to the head which would have rendered her unconcious, he then began to
strangle my mum with her own skirt! And in his statement that we had interpreted stated that his
animal instincts took over when he saw my mums thigh! And raped her as she was taking her last
breaths, The coroner said that she would not have been aware of the sexual attack which I am glad
of! I couldn't bare it if my mum had to go through that ordeal even though what she went
through an horrific time as it was it gave me peace of mind that she didnt have to suffer at the
hands of this sick man! It took a week for them to get in touch with us about mum. I had just come
back from a lovely weekend in New York to have a knock at the door and my distraught brother told me
mum had died outside Sahara Beach so we thought natural causes. But later that night we found out
that it was something more sinister. Things were sketchy at first because of the language barrier.
We phoned the foriegn common wealth office in Tunisia and they gave sketchy answers too. We werent
getting to know anything. So after a week of rumours I decided to go to the country myself because I
wanted answers! My uncle and his wife came with me to collect mums pesonal effects. The judge that
gave us my mums possesions and told us my worst nightmare! did you know your mum was raped? I cried
and the judge wasnt even sympathetic! They caught the man by my mums mobile phone and then he
produced my mums jewelry and admitted to what he had done!

It is a year on and nobody will help us. All we want to know is when the trial is so we can see this
man get what he deserves. It is like my mum never existed in Tunisia because it is all hush hush,
because it is bad for tourism! And that is why I am doing this memorial so people can see that I
love my mum and will keep on fighting untill I see that justice is done