A Connecticut woman was charged with allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death during a fight at their home Friday.

Destiny Smith, 39, was charged with the murder of her boyfriend, Joseph Rodriguez, 35, but her family have now claimed Smith was being abused by him.

‘My sister suffers from PTSD from being abused and all of the evidence that we are collecting is going to show that my sister defended herself,’ Smith’s sister, Jacqueline Hightower, told News 8.

Deputies were called to Chestnut Avenue in Waterbury, about 23 miles north of New Haven, to a report of a bleeding man. Smith had a knife in her possession when officers found Rodriguez with ‘apparent stab wounds to his chest and arm,’ police said.

Officials said that Rodriguez had an ‘extensive history of domestic violence,’ referring to a video that allegedly shows him physically abusing Smith.

According to her sister, the video was filmed by a person who witnessed the incident ‘in front of their home.’

Smith’s attorney said the police report mentioned that Rodriguez hit Smith on the head and knocked her to the ground. He added that Rodriguez had been violent with her for ‘quite some time.’

Family and friends of Smith and community members gathered outside of the courthouse dressed in purple for domestic violence awareness.

‘That’s why we wear purple, to stand behind domestic violence to know that it is not okay,’ Hightower told News 8 on Monday.

‘My sister has the right to fair trial, the right to speak up to what she endured behind closed doors, because at the end of the day no woman should feel like they cannot speak up and they cannot defend themselves because they are going to be scrutinized. That’s not okay.’

Smith was initially held in custody on a $2 million bond but it was lowered to $750,000. She is scheduled to appear in court on October 13 again.