“My experience has been a disturbing revelation about how the criminal justice system can be manipulated to re-victimise and harass victims of intimate-partner abuse," Dana said Friday's statement.





"There appears to be an increasing trend of abusers laying counter-assault charges against their victims as an intimidation tactic. The cell I was held in bears testament to this – it was full of domestic violence survivors whose partners had laid counter-charges. This, as the abusers well know, has the immediate effect of bullying victims into dropping the charges against their assailants.





"The swiftness with which the police respond to the countercharges by imprisoning the survivor serves to perpetuate inequality and re-victimisation. As things stand, pressing counter-charges is increasingly being used as a weapon to intimidate women into dropping charges. In a society where violence against women is such a scourge, surely this merits some kind of review?"





Dana also shared photographs on Twitter of herself with friends who had had supported her after her ordeal.



