Woman who was paralysed after being pushed over balcony by ex makes gut-wrenching admission about her life now

Warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence which some readers may find distressing.

On New Year’s Day 2021, Janine Kazmi’s life changed in an instant when she fell down a 15.5-foot drop, fracturing her spine in two places and becoming a full-time wheelchair user.

At the time, she was 33 years old and had just split up with her abusive partner, Barry Shankly, following a series of physical assaults.

He was also controlling and coercive, and would limit who she could speak to, even monitoring her messages with her own sister.

She agreed to meet him one last time, but he pushed her over the balcony in the hallway of his house in Dalmarnock, Scotland, because she refused to kiss him.

Janine tells her story in Stacey Dooley’s powerful new documentary, which highlights the disturbing connection between women who fall from height and domestic abuse.

Fallen Women, which airs on Tuesday (13 October) on BBC Three at 9pm, explores the harrowing possible links between abuse, coercive control and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of women.

It examines cases in which domestic abuse may have formed part of the wider picture, and asks whether this is fully considered when their deaths are investigated.

In the last five years, 31 women experiencing domestic abuse fell to their deaths, but exactly how they came to fall isn’t always clear.

Speaking in the new BBC documentary, Janine recalled: “I went to go past, and he pushed me hard. I flipped over the bannister, and I fell."

Devastatingly, she woke up paralysed from life-changing injuries, and had temporarily lost her memory.

She recalled: “When he [the doctor] said you’re never gonna walk again, it was the hardest thing to hear, and I cried. I asked for an extra shot of morphine so I could go to sleep.”

Janine explained that she lives alone because she ‘can’t live with another man again’. Because of her injuries, she isn’t able to have children.

Janine told her story in the powerful new documentary (BBC Three)

She heartbreakingly explained: “I wanted a little boy, but I didn’t get that opportunity. He didn’t just take my ability to walk away; he took so much more. At the end of the day, I’m the one who’s doing the life sentence.”

Shankly was found guilty of multiple domestic abuse offences and sentenced to 14 years in prison in July 2024.

Opening up on the horrific extent of the abuse she experienced, Janine told Stacey: “I was dragged by my feet down the stairs. He got my phone and he stamped on it.”

She moved out of his house in October 2021, but he threatened to take his own life, begging her to move back. Janine recalled: “He made me feel so guilty.”

On New Year’s Eve, she went to his house following the threats and went upstairs to the toilet. When she came out, he asked for a kiss.

She refused and said she was only there because he said he wanted to take his own life, which was when he pushed her.

Shankly had claimed that she had slipped and fallen, but because Janine survived, she was able to tell the authorities that he actually pushed her.

In the programme, Stacey explores the link between domestic abuse and women falling from height (BBC Three)

As Stacey points out in the documentary, if Janine hadn’t lived, there is a possibility that he would have never gone to prison because no one would have known the truth.

Stacey explores a number of other cases in the show, such as Bianca Thomas, a young mother from Birmingham who died after falling from an 11th-floor balcony.

Her death was ruled accidental, but her family still have questions about the circumstances surrounding what happened.

Stacey also looks into the devastating case of Kimberly Milne, whose husband was convicted of culpable homicide in Scotland after sustained domestic abuse was found to have been a significant contributing factor in her death by suicide.

Stacey Dooley: Fallen Women airs tonight at 9pm on BBC Three, followed by a repeat at 10.40pm on BBC One.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence to the national domestic violence helpline Refuge on 0808 2000 247, available 24/7, or via live chat, available 10am-10pm, Monday to Friday.