Grim toll: Violent deaths of women and children around Australia in 2024

Hundreds gathered to hear the names of 87 women and children read aloud at a solemn vigil in Adelaide.

Natasha Nibizi, Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyc.

Do you recognise these names?

They are mothers, daughters and wives who allegedly died as a result of violence by men last year.

On Saturday morning around 250 people gathered on the steps of Parliament House to hear their names read during the annual Pay Our Respects vigil.

Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin was among those present at the vigil, organised in Adelaide by advocate Gillian Lewis and abuse survivor Stacey Nelan.

“Your presence here is a powerful testament to the importance of community, solidarity and shared commitment to eradicating violence against women in Australia,” Ms Lewis said.

“Thank you for finding the strength to be here.”

Katrine Hildyard, Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic, Family, and Sexual Violence, joined the vigil remembering the 87th Woman murdered in Australia in 2024. Picture: Dean Martin

Ms Cronin said that the 87 women whose lives were represented at the vigil were only the “tip of the iceberg” with many others being subjected to domestic and sexual violence across Australia everyday.

She also acknowledged those women who have gone missing; their stories remaining untold.

“We have a great deal of more work to do but a great deal of very good work is happening and we look forward to hearing more from the Royal Commission here in South Australia, that is doing such good work,” Ms Cronin said.

The large crowd remained silent as Ms Lewis and Ms Nelan individually recognised each of the 87 victims represented, sharing how they died and sentiments from family where certain information was available.

As each life was remembered, many shed tears as they heard the horrors inflicted on these women, usually by those they loved and trusted.

“This is a national emergency,” Ms Nelan said.

In total, at least 87 Australian women and children died violently last year, and in many cases men have been charged or suspected of causing their deaths.

That’s one death every four days.

It is the highest death toll since 2018, highlighting a worsening epidemic of gendered violence in this country.

Ms Nelan said the death toll showed too many Australian women were “not safe at home, work and in community from men they love, know or don’t know”.

Honouring 87 Women at the Pay Our Respects vigil on the steps of Parliament House. Picture: Dean Martin

A tally kept by the Red Heart campaign reports 101 deaths in 2024 by including three overseas deaths, cases where there was no known relationship between the victim and alleged killer and a small number of killings allegedly committed by women.

However, the campaign notes that 90 per cent of deaths are believed to involve a male perpetrator and 80 per cent of the victims knew their alleged killer.

About one in five of the women who died were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

In the 87 cases acknowledged at the Pay Our Respects vigil, the alleged perpetrators include husbands, boyfriends, ex-partners, fathers, sons, neighbours, housemates and total strangers.

The alleged victims were children aged as young as two and women in their 20s through to their 80s.

They died in homes and shopping centres in major capital cities and in caravan parks, hotels or quiet roads in regional towns.

In some cases the killers took their own lives – like Mark James Bombara, 63, who shot mother and daughter Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyc at their home in Floreat, WA, in May.

In Queensland, Natasha Nibizi’s body was found alongside the body of her husband Habib Bayat in late February.

Five of the women were killed during a stabbing rampage by Joel Cauchi through Sydney’s Bondi Junction Shopping Centre in April.

CCTV footage appears to show Cauchi avoiding some shoppers and targeting women, before he was shot dead by NSW Police inspector Amy Scott.

Red Heart Campaign founder Sherele Moody. Picture: Liam Kidston

While these shocking cases made national headlines, many deaths have gone largely unreported.

To Sherele Moody, this is unacceptable. So for the past nine years she has dedicated countless hours to tracking police reports and fielding calls from loved ones in an effort to publicly acknowledge every unlawful, violent death of a woman or child around Australia.

The result is the Red Heart campaign and online memorial, where Moody attempts to give dignity to victims who might otherwise go unrecognised.