“Yo, is this..”
Lissette Ochoa Domestic Violence Case: One of The Most Well Known Cases of Spousal Abuse
The appalling reality for many women and girls worldwide.
by Group A on November 15th, 2021
Lauren Preston: Hello everyone and welcome back to our conversational blog! This week Laney Stroud and Justine Ouellet have teamed up with me to discuss a topic that the three of us feel really passionate about.
Laney Stroud: Yes, this is a topic that has been on our minds more and more lately and we are looking forward to sharing it with all of you! Now, without future ado this week on Yo, is this…we will be discussing domestic violence, specifically the case of Lissette Ochoa.
Laney Stroud: When I started looking into this case I was really curious to know about the background of domestic violence. I did some digging and I found this statistic from the CDC and it says that one in three women experience physical or sexual violence at least one time in their life. While one in seven men experiences physical or sexual violence at least one time in their life.
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Many of these women, about 45%, never end up reporting these acts of violence. 45%…that is just shocking to me. Almost half of the women never even report it. Imagine sitting in one of your classes of 100 students (all women), knowing that thirty-three of them will experience violence. That is just absolutely crazy to think about.
Lauren Preston: Wow, Laney, those chances are so high. I truly thought the chances were a lot lower. So who is Lissette Ochoa and what is her story?
Justine Ouellet: I’m glad you asked, I did some research and I found that Lissette Ochoa, is a young Colombian woman, unfortunately, she finds herself in one of the best-known cases of spousal abuse in Colombia.
Laney Stroud: I know her husband, Rafael Dangond’s a high celebrity status, which is most likely why the case blew up worldwide. Dealing with the case, Lissette and her husband Rafael attend a wedding party at an exclusive high-end Country Club, where I believe the incident occurred.
Lauren Preston: It’s insane to me that such a violent act could start at a place like this! As they were invited to dance with friends, her husband Rafael sees a young man dancing on Lissette while sitting at a table alone. He is clearly distraught. I understand how Rafael may feel in this situation as I would never want to see my significant other with someone else.
Justine Ouellet: I totally feel the same way! If I saw my significant other with someone else I would be very hurt as well. This leads to Rafael leaving the bathroom where he was presumably taking drugs as he came out with reddened eyes. These drugs led him to become angry and jealous, dragging and exiting her out of the building after she had returned to her seat.
Laney Stroud: I understand how someone can feel during this situation but I don’t think it permits you to overuse drugs as well as alcohol. Also, it doesn’t allow you to hurt someone else. Lisette is thrown into the car and battered and beaten by her husband, he drives off. Rafael proceeds to assault his wife for two more hours as he drives around the city erratically.
Lauren Preston: Lissette finally finds herself locked and hiding in the bathroom, calling her father and warning him that Rafael was armed and ready to kill himself. Laney and Justine, what would you guys do in this type of situation? 
Justine Ouellet: I honestly would do the same thing. She knew that she could lock herself in the bathroom and find a space to call her father and gain freedom!
Laney Stroud: I completely agree with you, Justine! Sadly, Rafael knocks down the bathroom door, enters the bathroom, and fires a bullet, grazing Lissette’s armpit. This act alone is the act of intent to murder. She proceeds to exit as her father arrives to see Lissette. He has stated that she looked as if a character in the film The Exorcist. Her eyes were purple and swollen shut, her upper lip was swollen to her nose and she had left the room crawling.
Lauren Preston: I can’t imagine the pain and trauma she went through. This incident alone can haunt you for the rest of your life and Lissette may have experienced this sort of trauma several times. News reports state, after leaving her house with her father, she spent almost a month in a clinic in a “lamentable” state due to the physical trauma she had gone through as well as having several fractures in her body.
Justine Ouellet: Glady relating back to the beginning of our conversation, the case reached a worldwide level with the help of her aunt, Astrid Amador. She had emailed pictures of her daughter to the media and her story leading to rapid growth in her case. Shortly after her case was initiated and Lisette filed for divorce.
Lauren Preston: Luckily, Rafael later turned himself in to authorities and was jailed in El Bosque Prison. It makes me so happy that someone who committed such an act of violence came forward and allowed himself to be apprehended. The physical and mental pain he committed towards Lisette was absolutely awful!
Justine Ouellet: He later was convicted of assault and battery, homicide intent, and carrying an illegal weapon. The attorney later finalized the case and revoked the preventative detention which temporarily sets Rafael free. He was sentenced to five years in jail for the presumably attempted murder and physical assault of his wife. Rafael later states and acknowledges his drug addiction and psychological problems which include personality change issues.
Laney Stroud: Rafael publicly apologizes to his wife and family for the violence that he has commented on and says he still loves Lissette. At this point, Lissette most definitely never wants to see Rafael again and I understand why. There are hundreds and thousands of similar cases similar to Lissette’s worldwide. These acts of violence happen every single day and almost half do not get reported.
Lauren Preston: I do believe that many women feel trapped and stuck in their relationship after experiencing violence and feel as if they cannot leave. Many women while trying to leave an abusive relationship experience psychological, financial, and physical threats. The constant fear of leaving and level of trauma can lead to the lack of confidence to leave.
Justine Ouellet: As we took a deeper look into Lissette’s case, we all recognized that something as little as a punch compared to almost killing your wife seems to be on completely different ends of the spectrum, while in reality, they are all acts of physical or sexual abuse and need to be addressed.
Lauren Preston: You know this reminds me a lot of the “One” and “Other” concepts that I read about in The Second Sex by Simone deBeauvoir. I know Justine and Laney already know this concept, but for our readers out there who do not know it, let me explain. The author explains that women are naturally inferior when it comes to men, therefore they are considered “Other”. The “One” has power over the “Other”, the construction of gender in our society encourages these inequalities. Her husband clearly thought he was superior over her and he took advantage of her and treated her with no respect. She was not treated as if she had the same privileges, rights, or control over her own life. When he did that he established that there was a level of contrast between men and women.
THIS WEEK’S
TOP STORIES
Impacts of Domestic Violence and the Lissette Case
by Group A November 15, 2021
Laney Stroud: Today, we are talking about Domestic Violence throughout the world. It’s stated that on average, nearly 20 people per minute are abused by an intimate partner. This creates something over 10 million people per year being abused. Not only can this come in physical harm but also, mental, homicides, stalking, and rape. In the intro above, we touched on a specific case that we wanted to dive into today, which is the domestic abuse case of Lissette Ochoa.
Justine Ouellet: This case we’ve introduced today is widely known in Colombia because of the severity and attention that was brought to it. This is something that is a sensitive topic for people due to the fact that it can be so relatable to so many people or even those who know others who have dealt with this issue.
Lauren Preston: Yeah, this case is so detailed as well. They pretty much lay out exactly what happened leading up to the argument and during. Definitely, something that should not be taken lightly, or if you are someone who has gone through something like this and may find it triggering we do not want you to continue reading.
Laney Stroud: This whole case was over a man dancing with Dangond’s (the husband) wife. It was stated in the report that Dangond had seen this happening, went to the bathroom to either consume some sort of alcohol or drugs before returning back to the party.
Justine Ouellet: It’s scary to think you know someone so well, someone you love and put trust in to protect you, and things like this happen over something so small or that could be simply fixed by an intimate conversation after the party.
Lauren Preston: I can’t imagine the fear Lissette must have felt in those moments, locking herself in the bathroom just to try to escape. Calling her father to have him come to rescue her.
Laney Stroud: Even the thought of her father receiving a message like that and having to see his daughter crawling out of her apartment completely black and blue has to be so upsetting and traumatic. Her father had trust in her husband too I would believe. I can only imagine the guilt and fear he felt when this happened.
Justine Ouellet: Luckily for Lissette, she is alive and her husband was also arrested for about three months. He did publicly state an apology and is receiving help currently. He says, “he recognizes he had a psychological and drug addiction problem, including personality issues, and that he was being treated by professionals who were also treating their two children”.
Lauren Preston: This is something that I think had to have taken a lot of self-reflection and time on his part to come back from something like that, especially actively seeking help and acknowledging his problems, unlike most people or abusers.
Laney Stroud: I agree, being able to understand you’re in the wrong and putting forth the effort to fix your problems to either save your marriage or become a better person overall is tough to completely throw yourself into.
Justine Ouellet: The whole topic, in general, is so crazy and impactful to probably so many women around the world and I think not only should we be thanking Lissette for speaking up but, for her aunt as well who spent so much of her time creating traction for this story and letting it be known that this male aggression and anger must be stopped.
Justine Ouellet: If you are new to our blog you may not know this but to our subscribers, you guys know we talk a lot about systemic injustice in this blog. So Lauren and Laney, would you guys consider this systemic injustice?
Lauren Preston: Oh, definitely!
Laney Stroud: Yes, of course! Justine before you dive deeper into the systemic injustice topic I want to begin by defining it in terms of domestic violence for our blog readers who may not know what it is.
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Domestic violence is not just an individual or even a family issue, but a problem that has the capacity to have negative consequences on society. Negative developmental impacts on children exposed to trauma impact their schoolwork and mental health. Survivors of domestic abuse may suffer the consequences of lost wages and lost financial support from an abusive spouse or partner (“Why Domestic Violence is a Public Justice Issue”).
Lauren Preston: I personally think it is key that the government considers the way other institutions and the way the dynamics of society impacts spouses and families. It is important that our government provides education and counseling for marriage, and that they try to provide funding to increase the awareness of domestic violence and to support the victims of it. Some other ways the government can help are by providing shelter, hotlines, counseling, food assistance, and childcare vouchers. 
Justine Ouellet: I totally agree, and sharing this story is so important. For those out there reading this, we wanted to give you all a little advice when it comes to domestic violence. Now before I begin, if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence please reach out or encourage them to reach out and get the help they need. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has a lot of great resources including a line to call, text, or live chat.
Laney Stroud: Yes, The National Domestic Violence Hotline is such a great resource. When I was looking at the site one of the advice tips they shared was about the Cycle of Abuse. I think that is such a great piece of advice to be aware of. It can be hard to admit it is even occurring, it makes me wonder if Lissette knew about this cycle of abuse, if that would have enabled her to leave this relationship sooner or if she and her husband could have received the help they needed sooner. Sometimes knowing about resources like this literally can save a person’s life.
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Work Cited
“Why Domestic Violence Is a Public Justice Issue.” Shared Justice, https://www.sharedjustice.org/most-recent/2017/7/27/why-domestic-violence-is-a-public-justice-issue. Accessed 15 Nov. 2021.
“Lissette Ochoa domestic violence case.” Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/4318878. Accessed 19 November 2021.
“National Statistics.” NCADV, https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS. Accessed 19 November 2021.