Every time Alisha left the house to meet her ex-boyfriend, she'd hug her family that bit tighter. She had no idea what would be waiting for her when she arrived.
When she first met Adam Kabenge through a mutual friend in 2020, they were both just 17-years-old. They started chatting on Snapchat, then began dating a few months later.
In the first few weeks of their relationship, Kabenge told her he loved her, wanted to marry her and have children. Alisha now realises he was love-bombing her - but she was blinded at the time.
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Three years later, she stood in court watching as he was jailed for 36 months after admitting coercive and controlling behaviour, assault and intimidation towards her.
During a sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Square, Crown Court this week, Kabenge, 20, from Newton Heath, was also made subject of an indefinite restraining order, meaning he'll never be able to contact her again.
Now, she wants other women to be aware of how he treated her, in the hope that no one else has to experience same the trauma and fear.
The court heard that during the course of their on-and-off three-year relationship, Kabenge would attempt to control her life by dictating how she dressed, who she spoke to in person and on social media, and by assaulting her.
He also tried to force her to get a tattoo, told her to set up an Only Fans account, and threatened to publish intimate pictures of her on the internet.
"After a while he started doing odd little things that weren't normal. He became really controlling," Alisha recalled. I couldn't go out, I couldn't see my friends and he was always checking my phone.
"He would tell me what to eat, what to wear and whether I could wear makeup. It became quite a toxic cycle and he started to get quite abusive. At first I was trying to justify everything. But then I'd turn up at his house and he'd want my phone as soon as I got to the door."
A few months into their relationship, the pair had split up. But when Kabenge booked a romantic night away at a hotel, Alisha agreed to meet him. It was here that he attacked her, the court heard.
They'd spent the night together, and Alisha said she was fooled into thinking everything was fine. But the next morning, his mood 'changed'. "He came out of the toilet and there was no emotion in eyes," she said.
"I remember begging him to stop because he was hurting me so much." It wasn't until January 2023 when Alisha was finally able to cut ties and report Kabenge to the police.
Speaking after his sentencing, Alisha said she believed she wouldn't survive the abuse.
"When I left the house to go and meet him I'd hug my family tighter because I never knew what was going to happen," she said. "I didn't know if I was going to come home.
"I felt like my time was running out and no matter what I did I couldn't escape him. I had no control over the situation. I hated myself. He made it so hard for me to be able to like myself when he was constantly picking up flaws."
Alisha said she wanted to make sure she was Kabenge's last victim, and hopes by sharing her ordeal it will warn other women.
"I wanted this to end with me one way or another," she said. If it wasn't me it would have been another girl and she might not have been as lucky as me.
"After court I felt like like I could finally breathe again and start getting my life back on track. For the last three years I wasn't living, I was just existing.
"I wasn’t sleeping, eating, I was constantly looking over my shoulder. He put me through hell and back to the point I didn’t want to be here. It’s hard to trust people now. I flinch every time someone moves too fast.
"It's not going to be easy to overcome this trauma."
Kabenge, of Branston Walk, will serve half of his 36-month sentence in custody before being released on licence.
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