In October 2020, Nimroy Hendricks was struggling to manage a situation that was spiralling out of control. He was 24, his girlfriend was 32, and her daughter, Rhianna (not her real name), was a violent and troubled 14-year-old. At the start of that year, Rhianna had stabbed her mother and set fire to a room in their home, been briefly detained, then returned to live with her. Now she was again threatening to stab her mum. Hendricks was desperate to protect his girlfriend, who he had been with for six months.
“I knew it was getting really bad for Nim,” says his father, also called Nimroy Hendricks. “He couldn’t handle the situation but he felt he couldn’t leave his girlfriend because he was worried Rhianna might kill her. The mother was afraid of her daughter. She had reported her daughter’s threats to police and social services, but Rhianna remained living with her.
