Domestic violence survivor Ena Berger shares her inspiring story of faith and courage
When Ena Berger first met her soon-to-be fiancé Nico Kukkuk, she never imagined that the romance would end in violence. She spoke to Rian about surviving a shooting at the hands of the man she loved.
When you first meet someone who you can see yourself building a long-term relationship with, you rarely consider all the dark secrets they may be harbouring. And even if you do start to suspect that they may be emotionally or mentally unstable, you are likely to overlook the signs because you have fallen in love.
If you are lucky, your concerns will amount to nothing but the usual new relationship paranoia.
For Pretoria resident Ena Berger, the signs came early on in her relationship with Nico Kukkuk, a retired police lieutenant.
She noticed his mood swings and his possessive behaviour, but did not act on it.
At a particularly low point in their relationship, Nico came home and asked Ena if they could "talk in private". Once he had led her to the bedroom and locked the door behind him, he told Ena: 'As ek jou nie kan kry nie, sal geen man jou kry nie.'He then reached for a gun.
Ena remembers praying as soon as she realised what Nico's plan was. Nico shot at her 14 times, landing two bullets in her head, before turning the gun on himself.
Miraculously, Ena survived.
Since undergoing over 20 surgeries to repair her injuries, Ena has written a book called "I Survived Nine Bullets - A Testimony of Surviving an Attempted Murder". Ena hopes the book will give women who are in abusive relationships the courage to take heed of the signs early and to act to save themselves.