PICKENS, S.C. -- A day after the arrest of man accused of holding his wife and malnourished children captive for years, a Georgia woman said she knows all too well the fear and pain of being an abused, captive spouse.

Georgia Anderson said that she lives in the Atlanta area now, but suffered for more than 20 years off abuse at the hands of her husband in McCormick, S.C.

"He throwed me over the couch, throwed me, stomped me, kicked me in my stomach, pulled the phone out the socket, beat me with the phone," she told WYFF News 4's Sharon Johnson.

Anderson has photos of her swollen and bruised face from just one hospital visit following a beating inflicted by her husband.

She said that after returning time after time over their marriage, she finally fled with just a few trash bag of belongings that her husband had thrown out.

That was four years ago.

"I had went in the hospital and came home," Anderson said. "The locks were changed on the doors. He would not let me in the home. He wouldn't let me get nothing."

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was at a domestic violence shelter in Pickens County on Wednesday to sign a bill making it a felony to trespass at similar shelters while possessing a weapon and increasing penalties for anyone who trespasses without a weapon.

"Victims of domestic violence of some sort are 25,000 to 30,000 people a year," in South Carolina, Sanford said. "We tragically rank in the Top 10 in the country in domestic violence."

Anderson said she can relate the fear of trying to get away from abuse and that she is hoping her story will help other victims find the strength to escape to safety.

"I'm a survivor. I came out of it and I know you can do it too," she said.