NT Police plead with community to ‘wake up’ to an unfolding epidemic of domestic violence after seven deaths
Northern Territory police are pleading with the community to “wake up” to an unfolding epidemic of domestic violence as investigations continue into seven deaths in less than five months.
The latest death of a woman allegedly killed by her partner prompted an appeal on Tuesday by the Territory’s police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst: “This has to stop”.
“The tragedy is mounting, and that tragedy is one that the Northern Territory cannot ignore - seven matters are being investigated by the Northern Territory police as domestic homicides since 1 June of this year,” he said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“The Northern Territory cannot accept one death, let alone seven.
“It is something that the community needs to wake up to, deal with, and not accept - violence is not the answer.”
Police said they had not seen this many people die “at the hands of another in a domestic situation” since the early 2000s in the Northern Territory and the vicarious trauma experienced by frontline workers, community and the public was hard to explain.
All women killed were Aboriginal and a further two women are fighting for life in Royal Darwin Hospital’s intensive care unit, after assaults related to domestic violence, Mr Wurst said.
On Monday night at Lajamanu, a remote community 870km south of Darwin, a 42-year-old woman was killed in an allegedly stabbing by her domestic partner.
Mr Wurst said the man is in police custody and had been on parole at the time of the alleged stabbing, after being released from prison in April.
The woman is the third person allegedly killed in the Territory as a result of domestic violence in the past fortnight after a sistergirl was stabbed at Malak last Tuesday and another woman at Katherine the week before.
Services are calling on the Northern Territory government to urgently implement the $180 million in funding for domestic, family and sexual violence services it promised ahead of the August election.
Newly elected Greens parliamentarian and domestic violence survivor Kat McNamara said consecutive governments have failed when it comes to the provision of frontline services.
“I have said this many times before, and I’ll say it again, domestic family and sexual violence is the largest social issue we face,” the member for Nightcliff said in their maiden speech to parliament on Tuesday.
“Women and children are being turned away from shelters every single day.
“Those frontline services have been crying out for adequate funding for decades from both sides of politics. This is not good enough.”
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