The mother of a woman jailed for killing a violent and abusive boyfriend has told the Sunday Mirror: “She is not a murderer... I’m not giving up on her.”
Lyly Maughan speaks out as her daughter Farieissia Martin, 26, prepares for an appeal hearing that could see her released.
Farieissia suffered years of abuse at the hands of “monster” Kyle Farrell.
He beat her, raped her and finally, one night in 2014, tried to throttle her.
She fought back – stabbing him in the heart – and was jailed for murder with a minimum term of 13 years.
Now, after being given leave to appeal, mum Lyly has revealed the family has received the backing of Sally Challen – freed earlier this year for killing her psychologically abusive husband Richard.
Lyly, 53, says: “I just want my baby back with me. She’s not a murderer. I’m not giving up on her.
“I met Sally Challen’s son David at a Justice for Women meeting. He is lovely. He gave me the courage to get up and talk for Farieissia.
“He just said to me, ‘Speak from your heart. We are all here for this purpose and no one is judging you’. So I thought, ‘She can’t speak for herself, so I have to do it’.
“It was through his family I found the courage. Sally’s case has given Farieissia hope, as the circumstances were similar.”
Sally, 65, told the Sunday Mirror she too is rooting for Lyly’s daughter, 26.
She said: “I am so pleased that Farieissia has been granted her appeal and I wish her luck.”
Farieissia has enlisted a Justice for Women legal team, led by human rights lawyer Harriet Wistrich.
The Court of Appeal heard that when she stabbed Farrell at home in Dingle, Liverpool, Farieissia had post- traumatic stress disorder and traumatic amnesia after years of violence and emotional abuse.
Mum Lyly only discovered the awful details from her daughter’s best friend Heather Savage, 26.
Lyly says: “Farieissia was allowed a phone call from the prison. She said, ‘Heather is going to tell you everything’.
"That’s when I found out about the rapes. She was constantly pregnant and she’s since told me a lot of it was through rapes.
“She explained she had terminations because those babies weren’t made out of love. They’re my grandkids but I understand her decision.
“She was getting mentally, physically and emotionally tortured and her hormones were everywhere. I haven’t come to terms with it.
“I’m on medication for depression. If she gets out, I’ll be me again.”
Lyly witnessed her daughter’s vibrant personality change overnight after she became involved with Farrell when they were 15-year-olds.
She says: “Farieissia was bubbly and bright. She was a brilliant mum. She always looked glamorous. And then she went totally downhill. She wouldn’t get dressed.
"I knew he was putting her through something – we’d seen the marks on her – but we didn’t know the extent.
"One time, her face was black and blue and she’d said she’d hit it when opening a stiff oven door. Another excuse was that one of the kids threw a bottle at her.
“Then I saw marks on her thigh – she said she’d fallen over a table. He pulled the wool over my eyes at first. Then I heard the arguments.
“He would call her a slag and say, ‘Go and get raped’. She eventually admitted to me that he hit her. I said, ‘He won’t change. This won’t be the last time’.
“She said she’d leave him but I think she loved him too much.”
Farieissia fell pregnant at 18 and had two daughters – now seven – 10 months apart.
Lyly recalls overhearing Farieissia tell Heather that Farrell had kicked her in the stomach while pregnant.
“I hated him and I still do. He’s a monster. He stripped her of all self-esteem,” Lyly adds.
According to Farieissia, the fatal clash came after Farrell started to throttle her when she returned home late one night.
As her eyes began to stream, she grabbed a kitchen knife, but claims she has no memory of stabbing him through the heart.
Farieissia told police someone had burst in and stabbed Farrell, 21.
She was cradling him when the ambulance arrived. In her 999 call, played in court, she was heard saying: “Babe, I didn’t mean it.”
Lyly was stunned when a jury at Liverpool Crown Court convicted her daughter of murder.
She adds: “I think even his family was shocked. It felt like such an injustice, she didn’t mean to kill him.
“She now knows what he was doing, that he was manipulating and controlling her.”
Now Lyly hopes her conviction will be reduced to manslaughter next year – and that Farieissia will be released from Low Newton jail in Co Durham after time served.
Lyly adds: “She’s on medication and has nightmares. Up until last year, her kids thought she lived in a castle.
I told them she looked after the princes and princesses.
Social services then said they had to know. Some questions are hard to answer.
“They ask, ‘Why did Mummy kill Daddy?’ I say Daddy hit Mummy, and Mummy didn’t mean it. Now, they are asking if she’ll be home for Christmas.
“When Farieissia heard she’d won the right to appeal, she said, ‘All I want is to take my kids to school’.” Sally Challen was released after her conviction was downgraded from murder to manslaughter.
She killed control freak husband Richard, 61, with a hammer at their home in Claygate, Surrey, and served eight years.
The landmark case recognised the toll coercive control had taken on her.
Sally’s son David sees parallels with Farieissia’s case.
He said: “Farieissia’s case exemplifies the urgent need to review criminal justice system failings in recognising the mental impact coercive control and physical violence has on victims.”
