Further Details Revealed in Nico Schulz Domestic Abuse Allegations

Trigger/Content Warning: The content of the article below (and the links and embeds included) detail some harrowing accounts of domestic abuse and violence that survivors of trauma may want to avoid.

Nico Schulz’s former partner has revealed further harrowing details of the abuse she alleges she suffered by him, in an interview with Ruhr Nachrichten. Unfortunately the RN article is hidden behind a paywall, but for those unable to access the article, BVB Newsblog have summarised the content in the below thread:

The details of the alleged abuse are pretty chilling, ranging from the verbal to the physical, including dragging her around by her hair, wishing her and their unborn child dead, and kicking and punching her on multiple occasions.

It seems that Ruhr Nachrichten have been given access to all the relevant messages, voice notes, images, etc. to corroborate her account. The fact they were able to do so, and were confident publishing the full details as they have, points to the strength of the evidence and consistency of her allegations and their timeline. While it remains to be seen whether the evidence provided is sufficient to find him guilty in a court of law (which is a necessarily difficult task, and for which the negative consequence is that issues like domestic violence and sexual assault are particularly hard to prove and punish), what has been released so far gives us every reason to believe the woman’s allegations.

These allegations paint Nico Schulz in a horrifying light, and give the impression of somebody that has no place not just at this football club, but in society. Unfortunately, however, if guilty, Schulz is not a rare breed of monster. Domestic abuse is a massive issue all over the world, as is violence against women generally (though domestic abuse certainly isn’t limited to women, it disproportionately affects women), as these statistics from the UK Charity, Living Without Abuse, illustrate (they may even be an undercount):

Domestic abuse:

— Will affect 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men in their lifetime

— Leads to, on average, two women being murdered each week and 30 men per year

— Accounts for 16% of all violent crime (Source: Crime in England and Wales 04/05 report), however it is still the violent crime least likely to be reported to the police

— Has more repeat victims than any other crime (on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police)

— Is the single most quoted reason for becoming homeless (Shelter, 2002)

— In 2010 the Forced Marriage Unit responded to 1735 reports of possible Forced Marriages.

In addition, approximately 400 people commit suicide each year who have attended hospital for domestic abuse injuries in the previous six months, 200 of these attend hospital on the day they go on to commit suicide

As of now, the club hasn’t made any moves to suspend Schulz or terminate his contract, and he continues to train with the team, though today he is in Berlin dealing with “private matters”.

I assume the club is not legally allowed to suspend him just yet, and in fairness it seems right that they shouldn’t be able to terminate his contract until some more definitive threshold has been passed.

It remains to be seen what will happen with Schulz as a BVB player and what legal repercussions he will soon face, but I would hope the club are prepared to take action should the evidence continue to stack up against him.

Edit: We received helpful feedback that we should list some resources for seeking help/support for domestic violence, and have added below.

Helplines for Domestic Violence

Here are a list of domestic violence helplines and resources for the countries from which the vast majority of our readership is based:

• USA — National Domestic Violence Helpline
• UK — Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline
• Germany — Violence Against Women Helpline
• India — National Commission for Women
• Canada — ShelterSafe
• Rest of Europe — European Commission Helpline Directory

If any of these resources are incorrect, or are sub-optimal routes for seeking help/support, please let us know, so that we can keep this list as up-to-date and useful as possible!