A courageous survivor of extreme domestic and economic abuse has been tapped to advise government ministers following a harrowing exposé, shining a critical light on a silent epidemic that demands urgent legislative reform.

Francesca Onody, a woman who narrowly escaped death at the hands of her abusive husband, is now channeling her trauma into systemic change, stepping into the corridors of power to advocate for victims of financial manipulation.

Her invitation to advise City minister Lucy Rigby represents a watershed moment in the recognition of economic abuse. While her story unfolds in the UK, it resonates deeply globally and particularly in Kenya, where thousands of women find themselves legally and financially trapped by manipulative partners, highlighting a desperate need for stronger consumer protection laws in the banking sector.

A Harrowing Escape from Destruction

Onody's ordeal is the stuff of nightmares. Left homeless and completely penniless after her husband doused their family cottage in petrol while she and her two children were inside, her survival was nothing short of miraculous. Her husband, Malcolm Baker, perished when the property exploded, but the abuse continued from beyond the grave.

It soon emerged that Baker had meticulously dismantled their financial security over an extended period. He canceled the couple's insurance policies, drained their business bank accounts, and explicitly wrote her out of his will—a final act of coercive control designed to ensure her utter destitution upon his demise.

The Financial Aftermath and Intervention

Facing the terrifying prospect of repossession by her mortgage lender, Onody found herself battling not just the trauma of a near-fatal attack, but the cold, unyielding machinery of the financial sector. It took intense media intervention from The Guardian to halt the repossession order.

Her case underscores how abusers weaponize institutional policies. As Onody herself noted, abusers are highly calculating, exploiting the strict terms and conditions of banks and insurers to inflict maximum damage on their victims without ever raising administrative red flags that would alert authorities.

Government Action and Policy Shifts

Moved to tears by the reporting, City minister Lucy Rigby has personally intervened. The government's determination to tackle this issue has now been elevated to a cross-cutting theme in their financial inclusion strategy. The planned meetings will also involve the charity Surviving Economic Abuse, aiming to create robust, immediate safety nets.

• Banks must implement stronger flags for sudden cancellations of joint policies.
• Mortgage lenders need mandatory grace periods for survivors of domestic violence.
• Legal frameworks must quickly untangle joint assets when coercive control is proven.

The Kenyan Context: A Silent Epidemic

In Kenya, the intersection of domestic violence and financial abuse remains largely underreported but devastatingly common. The tragedy of women losing their homes, land, and savings to vindictive partners is an everyday reality, often exacerbated by a lack of financial literacy and patriarchal property norms. Implementing similar ministerial reviews in Kenya could save countless families from generational poverty.

Kenyan financial institutions, from tier-one commercial banks to ubiquitous mobile money platforms like M-Pesa, must prioritize the development of progressive protocols. These institutions need mechanisms to protect vulnerable individuals from having their digital and physical assets weaponized against them by a controlling partner.

A Catalyst for Global Reform

The steps being taken in the UK serve as a blueprint for global banking regulations. Financial abuse must be recognized not merely as a domestic dispute, but as a severe financial crime requiring institutional intervention and rigorous safeguarding protocols.

"If speaking up can help in any small way to stop someone else from going through what my children and I went through, then my survival has profound purpose," Onody stated, offering a powerful beacon of hope for millions of silent victims worldwide.