Four children were watching when, according to Philadelphia police, Aaron Wright began to beat his girlfriend, Joyce Quaweay, 24, so bad at the Germantown home they shared that even after the life left her body she continued to be victimized.

Wright was "extremely controlling," Homicide Capt. James Clark told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"He felt like she would not submit to his authority and this was his way of punishing her to try to break her," Clark said told the Inquirer.

Wright enlisted his best friend, Marquis Robinson, 41, who lived with the couple along with his girlfriend, to help him "break" Quaweay so they came up with a diabolical scheme, police say.

Wright and Robinson allegedly confined Quaweay by handcuffing her to a bench and stripping her naked.  As Wright struck her with blow after blow, police say, Robinson turned her body so that Wright could pummel her in different areas.

When the "brutal and barbaric" incident was over, Quaweay had "bruises all over her body, from the neck down," Clark told the Inquirer.

Karyn Nettles-Davis, 25, an intimate friend of Quaweay, told the Inquirer that if domestic abuse was going on, then her friend never said anything about it -- and she should have.

"You're not alone. There's nothing to be ashamed about. You're not doing anything wrong. And it can get worse," she said. "If somebody is putting their hands on you, they do not love you. That is not love."

"My sister was very smart," Quaweay's half sister, Beatrice Mulbah, 26, of Providence, Rhode Island, said, according to the Inquirer. "My sister was a very strong woman who was always there for her kids," Mulbah said. "Joyce had more than a lot of people who loved her and I would like people to remember her as a strong, independent woman."

Wright is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful restraint, aggravated assault and abuse of a corpse.

Robinson is charged with aggravate assault, conspiracy to commit murder and abuse of a corpse.

Quaweay's family has set up a GoFundMe account for the woman's two children, Leah, 2 years old, and Dinah, 10 months.

The GoFundMe says: "Joyce Quaweay was a 24 year old, loving, caring, hard working, mother who's life got cut short because of domestic violence. On Friday July 29, 2016 Joyce was beating and [tortured] to death by her boyfriend and his friend. Joyce was three days away from moving into a battered women shelter. Leah who is 2years old and Dinah who is only 10 months are now left without a mother. Joyce loved her kids, they were the center of her world . They meant everything to her. We're raising this money to set aside for her beautiful girls who are now left without a mother."