UK woman’s nightmare cruise leads to special bond with Aussie mum, charity helping DV victims

A chance encounter on a cruise led a UK woman to pack up her life and move across the world, all because an Aussie mum helped her escape an allegedly abusive partner. Stacy Jane had been travelling with her ex-partner on a New Zealand cruise in 2019 when she came across the woman she now lovingly calls “Maussie” – her Aussie mum. The pair bonded instantly. “My life changed when I met Maussie and her family,” Stacy Jane told Channel 9’s A Current Affair. She alleged she was in an abusive relationship at the time, and told the program she was attacked on the last night of the cruise. “I went back to the cabin, and he opened the door and just reached for me and dragged me in,” she said. She fled the room and screamed for help, without access to her phone or passport she didn’t know what to do. Maussie said her family was told immediately what had occurred and sought out Stacy Jane with security. “She was bruised, battered, dishevelled, torn evening gown, absolute mess, tremulous with fright and fear,” Maussie explained. “Stacy still had another week in Sydney … we just all said, we’re taking you home.” The first words Maussie told Stacy Jane was that the moment would be the start of her “new life”. Maussie said her first instinct was to protect Stacy Jane because she was a mother. Stacy Jane stayed with the loving Aussie family for a week before returning to the UK and living in a refuge, remaining in contact with her new Aussie friends. “I said, ‘sweetheart, come home’ … I could hear the distress and the upset,” Maussie said. Stacy Jane made the permanent move to Australia with the help of the people she now calls family. She soon found that sewing helped her keep her mind off things and turned to making tote bags, which helped with her mental health. Those tote bags are now helping other domestic violence victims escape violent homes. Stacy Jane runs the company Escabags, which are stocked with essentials such as a SIM card, wet wipes and toiletries. The free bags can be found across the country in 1600 locations including police stations, health and community centres and privately owned businesses. Some are even stocked in coffee shops and pubs. Stacy Jane said none of this would be happening without the help from Maussie and her family. “They took a chance on me and the ripple effect of that has been incredible,” she said.