The Affidavit (Anna and Lu Jinhu’s Relationship) – Part 3
*** WARNING – This chapter and the following chapters cover issues relating to domestic violence. These themes will continue throughout the balance of the story. Please be careful when reading this material. ***
Thursday, continued…
[Anna is still typing her affidavit]
Lu Jinhu also engaged in economic abuse. Again, like the domestic violence he inflicted, if I sat and detailed every incident that I can recall, I would likely add 30 or 40 more pages to this affidavit. However, I now know that not only does his family own a prosperous company in Country X, but they also provided him with significant financial support throughout our relationship, while he was in Australia, and financed his regular trips back home. Despite this, he refused to contribute to our joint life in any meaningful way.
I was wholly responsible for paying all the bills, securing our accommodation, feeding us, and purchasing necessary items for our home. He consistently refused to pay. To secure our apartment, while I had some small savings, my family had to loan us the additional amounts required for the bank to approve my mortgage. Furthermore, while I drive an eight-year-old vehicle, he convinced me to purchase an $80,000 vehicle in his name, but with the finance entirely in my name, less than three months ago.
In a normal de facto relationship, it would be expected that couples pool their resources to support themselves and their shared life. This, however, did not happen in our relationship. Lu Jinhu, despite his family’s financial support, failed to make any contributions financially. He believed that it was solely my responsibility to provide for us both, which I now realize was a part of his strategy to maintain control.
Lu Jinhu also failed to make any non-financial contributions. While he studied for part of our relationship, to my knowledge, he never worked in Australia. He considered tasks typically associated with managing a household to be “women’s work,” as he put it, and beneath him. He made statements that he would be culturally shamed if he did any of them, demanding that I take on all the responsibility. Since my marriage, I have discussed the situation with my husband and discovered that this was a lie. In modern relationships in Country X, it is quite common for household tasks to be shared between partners, as is the economic support of the relationship.
The final and most egregious example of his economic abuse relates to the orders this application is requesting the court to vacate.
Attached to this affidavit is a true copy of the orders made by the court. As an officer of the court, I confirm that my first knowledge of these orders came on the Tuesday prior to the swearing of this affidavit. Lu Jinhu admitted to me, outside the Civil Administration Bureau, that he had done everything to ensure that all assets gained during our relationship were registered in his name, leaving me with the debt. He told me that there was nothing I could do about it.
It wasn’t until the Thursday prior to the swearing of this affidavit that I could fully understand what he had done.
Due to issues concerning the Australian subsidiary of my husband’s company, Hou Enterprises, I was asked to assist my employers in having my husband sign various documents needed to address the matter. While working in my husband’s company’s corporate offices in City T, I received an email from my legal assistant, Jodie Hughes. She informed me of the existence of these orders and pointed out that the signature on the documents did not match my own. As Jodie has seen me sign my signature on numerous occasions over the last three years, she is more than qualified to determine if the signature was mine or not.
[Note – ALFRED, we will need an affidavit from Jodie confirming her knowledge of this matter and her qualifications to recognize my signature.]
The realization that my signature had been forged was a pivotal moment. It not only confirmed the extent of Lu Jinhu’s manipulation and deceit, but it also opened my eyes to the scale of the financial abuse he had subjected me to during our relationship.
