I’m not an expert on domestic violence, but your compassion and frustration are obvious and I want to extend my gratitude that this man has a friend as caring as you. Having witnessed domestic violence in my family I really, honestly don’t understand what compels people to deny, minimize, or otherwise rationalize the abuse. But it must be doing something for him to have two friends willing to stand up and call it out for what it is. Maybe with time he will get the message.
Query: is she really pregnant or just stringing him along so he’ll stay? If she is really pregnant, what are the chances it’s by some other guy?
I’ve been a social worker for a long time and I’ve seen cases like these.
First of all you don’t really know what happened. Dealing with a lot of criminals and ex-cons as I do, and you using terms like "Built like Hercules " and “drug addiction issues” my first guess would be she didn’t hit him. Someone, either her dealer or her pimp, did it to him.
Often a drug abuser makes deals and it goes wrong and it is often more effective for the pusher or pimp to go after the family, after all beating up a customer is bad business.
Whatever you do, don’t assume you know the whole story whatever it is. And yes, women do abuse their husbands, but if you do go to the authorities, you could wind up getting yourself involved in a situation that is a mess and losing a friend in the process.