Every story has different voices and every drama has new chapters. This is what happened now Lorna Garnett (28 years old), an English woman who became known in recent days because her partner for a decade, Tony (29), he abandoned her and the two little daughters what they have in common for go to form a new life with Sofiia Karkadym (22)Ukrainian refugee that they had welcomed into their home just two weeks ago.
Lorna, who changed her birth name to Tony’s even though they weren’t married, told The Sun how were those brief, but intense days that ended up destroying his family.
As it turned out, it all started when Tony, a security guard in the British health system, wanted to welcome a Ukrainian refugee -whether male or female- into his home and, after considering that the official government process was too slow, decided to offer help through social networks, the way he contacted Sofiia.
“I had reservations at first, who wouldn’t? We were bringing a stranger to live with us in our home. That’s an important decision to make and even though I was very insecure, he wanted to do it. The situation in Ukraine is terrible for ordinary people, so I decided that it was the right thing to do to give someone a roof over their heads and help them when they desperately needed it”, says Lorna: “And that’s how Sofiia paid me to give her a home”, she deplores today .
He assures that Sofia, after arriving home, “set her sights on Anthony from the start, decided she wanted him, and took him.; she didn’t care about the devastation that was left behind.”
When she moved in with them, “it quickly became clear to me that Sofia was not interested in spending time with me. Her English is quite good, so language was not a barrier“. Tony, in the version he gave to the British tabloid, said that, since he spoke “a little Slovak and it is not very different from Ukrainian, I was able to understand her in her language; That made things worse because Lorna didn’t know what we were talking about.”
Lorna recalls that “during the day (Sofiia) she didn’t put on makeup, she didn’t comb her hair and she didn’t put any effort into her appearance”, but that changed “after five in the afternoon, when Tony had to come home” from work. “Suddenly she had come down the stairs with red lips, neat hair and a low-cut blouse.”
“At first I told myself I was imagining it or I was irrationally jealous, but unfortunately I was right all along,” she reflects.
“THE LIFE I KNEW IS SHATTERED”
The tensions during those days, due to the dangerous closeness that Tony and Sofiia maintained – they even went to the gym together and stayed “talking and laughing” inside a car in the parking lot – led Lorna to make a decision: throw her out. home. Tony, who said he had felt a “click” from the beginning and was sure that the same thing happened to Sofiia, replied: “If she leaves, I leave“.
Since then, Tony has gone to his parents’ house with Sofiia and they “plan the rest of our lives together.”
“He tells me he’s sharing a bed with her at her mother’s house, so that tells me all I need to know.”Lorna comments.
“I just don’t understand how he could throw all that away for a woman he’s known for 15 days. The life I knew is shattered,” he also says, adding that “everything I knew has been turned upside down in the space of two weeks.”
“I don’t know what I would have done without friends, who have been here for me every minute since he left,” she says.
NO INTENT TO “DOUR OFF” OTHERS ABOUT HOST REFUGEES
In this context, Lorna clarifies that, when giving her version of the story, “I would never discourage anyone from accepting refugees“because in the face of the crisis in Ukraine “people like me will want to have the heart to help those in need.”
“All I would say is that think very carefully about the possible impact of having a complete stranger living in your home with your family and your wife or husband,” he advises.
“I did the right thing, I showed compassion, I helped someone who was fleeing a terrible war and look where I ended up (…) but I don’t want this to happen to anyone else because it’s been devastating“, sentence.