App helps victims document domestic abuse

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - For victims of domestic abuse, finding ways to prove that they are being abused can be difficult. 

Three years ago, Sheri Kurdakul decided she wanted to do something to help, so she created Victims Voice, a website and mobile app where people can document their abuse when no other “proof” is available.

“It’s a digital diary that allows victims to record each incident of their abuse,” said Kurdakul. “It encrypts the data, stores it permanently and meets the legal standards of court admissibility.”

Charles Gattsek, Chief Technical Officer for Victims Voice, says that more than 90% of abusers aren’t prosecuted because without any sort of corroborating evidence for a victim, cases can quickly boil down to he said/she said.

“Through the use of the app, they can now prove their case, whereas before it was left to memory or left to contradicting statements,” Gattsek said. “Not, through not just journal entries into the application but also through photographs that were taken at the time.”

Begun in June, Victims Voice has an annual fee of $39.95. Kurdakul and her team have partnered with legal advocates and victim support groups to help anyone who is unable to pay the enrollment fee.