SOUTH-CENTRAL : Hot Line for Battered Women Now Open

First it was the innuendo, the chiding, the degrading remarks. Then came the threats, and finally, physical violence.

“He grabbed me by the arms and threw me through a sliding glass door,” said Maria St. John, recalling the March incident that led to her husband’s sixth misdemeanor conviction for spousal abuse--six weeks after getting out of jail for one of the convictions.

“I didn’t know what to do or where to go. . . . He hurt me many times before I called the police,” said St. John, whose husband was charged with felony spousal abuse for an incident in October. He has pleaded not guilty.

With a new toll-free telephone number (800-978-3600) that provides advice in several languages, as well as the opening of two shelters in South-Central Los Angeles, the county is attempting to help women like St. John. But their numbers overwhelm the Los Angeles region’s capacity to help victims of domestic violence.

“There is a need far beyond what we are able to offer,” said Karen Freeman, assistant director of the 22-year-old, South Bay-based 1736 Family Crisis Center, which operates the two new 20-bed shelters. They join the only other such shelter in South-Central, Jenesse Center Inc., a 22-bed facility that has operated for 14 years.

The centers offer comprehensive counseling, job training and assistance with acquiring housing outside the abusers’ reach, Freeman said.

When the new shelters are at capacity, staff members help victims find alternative safe houses such as churches and other social service agencies, she added.

Gloria Allred, an attorney specializing in women’s legal rights, said violence begins its cycle with the feelings of shame and isolation women experience after they have been battered. Such feelings, often referred to as “battered women’s syndrome,” make them vulnerable and often lead to harsher attacks, she said.

“Victims need information to dispel some of the myths,” said Allred, citing a common belief that batterers will not continue the violence. “That is false. Usually, it becomes worse, despite promises by batterers that they will stop.”

Often women are unaware they can use the criminal justice system to fend off their abuser. They can obtain restraining orders through local law enforcement channels.

“Most women don’t know that they could also sue for damages to compensate for emotional, physical and economic distress,” Allred said.

A victims’ advocate for the county’s Domestic Violence Task Force, an advisory committee for the Board of Supervisors, St. John is spokeswoman for the 800-number and helps to raise funds for more shelters in the region. She publicly tells her story so women can see that there are ways out of their situation.

Her husband will face a Superior Court judge Dec. 20 on felony spousal abuse charges. “I want every woman to know they do have a choice, they are important and it’s their life,” St. John said.