Roscommon woman Tori Towey believed she had ‘no way out’

Roscommon woman Tori Towey, in her first television interview since being allowed to travel home from Dubai has described how she felt there was no way out of what she claimed was an abusive relationship, allegations which her husband denies, which led to her attempting to take her own life.

The 28-year-old air hostess made international headlines when she became trapped in the United Arab Emirates after being charged with attempted suicide and alcohol abuse and served with a travel ban. These charges were later dropped and Ms Towey returned home to County Roscommon following interventions by the Irish government.

Speaking on her first television interview to presenter Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Newsnight last week, she described her marriage as being one where she felt she “had no way out.” She stated: “There were just a lot of control issues. Obviously in the beginning I didn't see anything like that, it was when we moved in together, I was cut off from my friends, my family. I wasn't allowed to be on my phone, so I was kind of cut off from the rest of the world; so, then there were a lot of arguments which led to physical abuse and just emotional and mental abuse so it was it was really, really tough.” When asked if it got so hard that she wanted to “end it all”, Ms Towey replied, “yes”. She added, “I just couldn't see a way out, nothing was getting better, it wasn't ending so I just at one point thought there is no way out, I can't leave, I can't do anything, I'm stuck.” She recalled the night of her arrest saying: “I woke up and they had given me oxygen. I was in my pajamas, so they got one of my dresses and they told me to put it on and then I was brought straight to the police station.

“I was put in a room; the police were speaking in Arabic, so I didn't understand anything that was going on. I wasn't told why I was there or what I was being charged with at this point. Then I was just brought straight up to the jail cell that was in the police station.” She said there were about 50 women there and described the jail as “a narrow corridor with individual cells beside the corridor and it's just full of mattresses on the floor and there's just girls sitting there. When I went in, I sat down and I began to speak with some of them, some of them were there for seven months,10 months, for very minor things.

“I didn't know how I was going to contact anyone, so it was it was really terrifying.” Fortunately, Ms Towey had managed to ring her mother and friend before having all her possessions including her phone taken from her by the police. They in turn made contact with the organisation Detained in Dubia. The family also got in touch with Roscommon TD Claire Kerrane who immediately made contact with Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald who then raised the matter in the Dail. Following diplomatic intervention, the charges were dropped and Ms Towey was allowed to fly back to Ireland and return home to County Roscommon.