Kristin: My life since Veitch

Kristin Dunne-Powell has started her life over. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Kristin Dunne-Powell has started her life over with a new job, a new crusade and a renewed future with her husband that includes planning a family.

The former partner of TV star Tony Veitch - who pleaded guilty in April to one charge of injuring Dunne-Powell with reckless disregard - has revealed she is now doing voluntary work with domestic violence organisations.

"Domestic violence does live in the shadows - it lives in secret, it lives in the dark," said Dunne-Powell yesterday. "And it lives under threats of not saying anything."

No one deserved to be hit, said Dunne-Powell. "They need to get out, whether they are hit once or 100 times.

"Life on the other side of a relationship like that is just so much amazingly better."

A year almost to the day after the Veitch case hit the headlines, Dunne-Powell is recovering from the devastation of having her life and personal details play out in the media.

The 35-year-old has started a new business and is hoping to use her marketing skills to help organisations that deal with domestic violence.

She and her husband Morgan Powell "have a great future planned" - one which "hopefully" includes babies. "I'm just trying to put my life back together," she said.

The couple live in a rural area, south of Auckland. Although they are selling their house, they have no intention of leaving the country. She said they lived "deliberately a long way away" from the city.

"When you have feared for your life, you are very protective of yourself."

Dunne-Powell is reluctant to comment about Veitch, or his recent marriage break-up with Zoe Halford. "I don't want to talk about him," she said, matter-of-factly, later adding that their relationship was in the past and irrelevant.

She did say, however, that she stayed with Veitch because she feared for his mental wellbeing.

Dunne-Powell's new business and marketing consultancy, GRO (generating revenue opportunity) is only a month old, but she said she had plenty of work.

"At the moment I am doing work in the insulation industry. It's a huge growth industry.

"I have great friends from an advertising agency who made my website for free. You asked me before about how I coped ... well, it was friends and family who also knew the truth, so there was no need to waver from that.

"It was tough to hear public perceptions [from people] who heard one side of the story and I was judged on that but we always knew the truth so that's what helped me through."

The court saga "will be with me for the rest of my life", she said, but she added the burden had been lifted.

"It was very devastating and very tiring. It was sad. I think it is a lesson for everybody to not judge one side of the story."

She has been doing voluntary work for domestic violence organisations.

"Part of wanting to do my own business is that I hope I will get the time to be able to dedicate myself to a couple of projects," she said.

"As a sufferer of domestic violence there are some things [I know] that would be really helpful for other women in that situation. With my skills in marketing I think I can bring them together.

"It is such a huge problem and once you have been in it and you have seen other women and heard about their experiences you have to do something about it.

"The only good thing I can see coming out of all the bad publicity that has happened is that there is some opportunity to do some good for domestic violence and women."