She killed her husband after years of abuse climaxed with threats to her son’s life. Now, the Aussie mum tells Warren Gibbs she’s starting anew.
As seven-year-old Jackson Falls lays in bed each morning, his mum Susan curls up beside him, kisses his cheeks and whispers how much she loves him.“ I love my children so much it hurts me,” says Susan, 42.
Yet she hides a chilling secret from her little boy. “I haven’t told him that I killed his daddy,” Susan tells Woman’s Day in an exclusive interview.
Wiping away tears with a trembling hand, the petite blonde draws a deep breath. “Jackson knows his dad is dead, but he doesn’t know how,” she says, softly.
When Jackson is old enough to understand, Susan will tell him the tragic truth – that 20 years of torment left her with “no option” but to kill Rodney Falls. But for now, Susan is piecing together a new life after two decades of abuse and four years fighting a murder charge.
With a new man by her side, 39-year-old carpenter Matt Barlow, Susan is speaking for the first time since her June 3 acquittal – with the full support of her daughters, Amanda, 20, Danielle, 18, and Cassandra, 16.
“It has taken me a long, long time to trust another man and to truly discover what love really is,” Susan says. “To be told I’m a princess, to be called ‘babe’, is something so special.
“Matt has made me so happy and I’m so grateful he has come into our lives. “Jackson simply adores him, as do my daughters. I thought I found happiness when I married Rodney, but I wed a monster.”
To read the full story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale June 28, 2010.
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