Physical Abuse

I wanted to tell you about the day that my father, Mike Rinder, attacked my mom—just a short part of it—but it’ll give a very clear idea of exactly what I saw and the damage that he caused to her. So it was a hot summer day, we were down in Florida—we, being my mom and my uncle (Mike's brother) who flew in from Australia. And we were there, and we were hopeful for reconciling with Mike Rinder and coming to an end of his attacks on our family.

We were perfectly happy with him going and living his life and moving on and leaving us alone. Well, it absolutely didn’t go that way. It was faster than I could have imagined—upon approaching Mike Rinder—next thing you know, my mom's being abused by him and being attacked by him. And his arms are on her and he’s screaming in rage—and, I mean, profanities you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. And spittle coming out of his mouth and a rage, that was so violent, it was scary. And I can tell you, as a daughter, you never expect that. And you never expect that to be your father, Mike Rinder, on your mom. I mean, can you imagine that? I literally couldn't—it was surreal. It was scary. I was scared for my life. I was scared for my mom's life.

This rage that he was in—and rage makes a man very dangerous—this rage that he was in, in this domestic violence attack, resulted in her having a broken shoulder, gouged flesh, blood everywhere on the scene when it was happening. And all sorts of other medical ramifications as a result of the flesh wound and infection and, you know, all sorts of things. That all resulted from that rage. And he, Mike Rinder, wouldn’t let go. And my mom’s yelling, “Let go, let go.’’ And she will tell you, she heard her bones cracking. She heard it happening. And yes, he broke her shoulder that day in that rage.

So what am I supposed to do? I’m the daughter. I’ve just witnessed and experienced, now, my mom having been damaged by my father, Mike Rinder—damaged for life. Am I supposed to stand here and not say anything? Let him get away with it? Let him be supported by whoever—all the people that don’t care? No. That is not going to happen. I will not stand by while my mother is in pain every single day of her life and Mike Rinder continues to walk free with no responsibility. And, on top of it, shame the victim and shame my mom and tease her and lie about her and lie about my family. No. I will not do it.

And that’s why I have justice4mom.

That being said, your support is very appreciated. I want to thank you, every one of you, my supporters that have been supporting me for some years now. For all of that support, for every little thing that you do, for the encouragement, for you going out and doing something, for taking a stand against domestic violence.

Anything and everything that you can do—not only to stop my father, Mike Rinder, the abuser—but any abuser—I appreciate, and I want to thank you for that. It’s so appreciated, I cannot tell you enough.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Taryn

Justice4mom