A domestic violence victim holds the torn pieces of a domestic violence poster her partner destroyed. She keeps it as a reminder.
Photo: Kate Geraghty
THE number of women and children murdered in domestic violence is at a 10-year high, prompting calls for an urgent review of the state's fractured legal, police and community service systems.
At least 74 women and dozens of children die in Australia each year at the hands of violent men, making up the majority of all murders committed.
But experts warn the real death rates are even higher because of serious weaknesses in the way homicide data is collected. Family law changes that force shared custody and mediation have placed even more women and children at risk of harm, they say.
The Victorian Attorney-General, Rob Hull, announced yesterday his state would be the first to implement a domestic violence death review, saying the aim was to analyse all cases and develop more effective strategies to reduce homicide rates. The NSW Government has so far ignored these calls.
It is not hard to find flaws in the way the police and legal systems deal with violence against women. In the past two years alone there have been countless preventable domestic violence homicides, where danger signs were not recognised, or worse - ignored, where women repeatedly sought protection and did not receive it, where children were killed because women at risk were denied help to survive away from violent partners.
These are just a few cases:
A woman and her daughter were found dead earlier this year. The Herald understands the woman, who was not an Australian resident, sought an apprehended violence order but police rejected her pleas for help because they thought she was complaining in order to get residency.
Gary Bell murdered his children, Bon, Maddie and Jack, then killed himself in Pericoe on the South Coast this year - he had been arrested for assaulting his wife just beforehand but was released by police. The family was known to the Department of Community Services.
Rachael Young was shot and killed in front of her child by her ex-partner, who had just been granted bail on assault charges.
A woman and her baby were burned to death in their home by her boyfriend - violence had been repeatedly reported to police.
The NSW Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, said the Government's response to the issue was inadequate and a review would significantly reduce the death toll by identifying risk factors for domestic violence homicides and where families fall through the cracks.
"You will usually see threats of violence or homicide being made before a death occurs, or find access to weapons, or previous examples of depression, drug or alcohol issues," Mr Barbour told the Herald.
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