Lauren Novak: Domestic violence disclosure laws cannot come soon enough

THREE horrific murders in Australia’s recent past all have one horrific thing in common – the killers had violent histories, and wives or girlfriends and children who did not know, writes Lauren Novak.

• The perverted world of killer Brett Peter Cowan
• Holdom pleads guilty in murder of Karlie and Khandalyce
• Adrian Ernest Bayley’s edited record of interview

“HOW many chances does a person get?” serial criminal Adrian Ernest Bayley reportedly asked detectives when charged with raping and killing Jill Meagher.

Bayley had spent 11 years in prison for raping or attempting to rape eight women and girls. But he was on parole when he snatched Ms Meagher – after an argument with his girlfriend, he said.

This week we learned double murderer Daniel James Holdom also committed a series of crimes before murdering Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and her daughter Khandalyce.

Holdom, who had a brief relationship with Ms Pearce-Stevenson, pleaded guilty to their murders on Tuesday.

He had previously tried to strangle an ex-girlfriend as she slept, and stalked an ex-wife and their children on their way to day care and school.

Also in this despicable category of repeat offenders is Brett Peter Cowan who abducted and killed Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.

Cowan admitted to preying on children as a teen and was later jailed for molesting two boys, including one so violently he left the six-year-old with a punctured lung.

Over the years that he committed his crimes, Cowan entered and left relationships or marriage with numerous women and became a father.

Each of these men had girlfriends or wives over the years they were committing crimes against girls and women.

They also had children or access to partners’ children.

It is rare that such abusers share their full past with new partners, but they deserve to know they are at risk.

Reports to women’s services in SA show us the prevalence of serial abusers among us.

More than 570 men in SA have been reported for multiple violent assaults against their partners or family, and 400-plus reported for hurting multiple women or children.

All this makes an indisputable case for introducing a disclosure scheme in SA that enables people who are worried about the behaviour of a partner to ask about their criminal history.

The State Government has pledged to launch such a scheme, known as Clare’s Law, in October and it can’t come soon enough.

Imagine if the women who found themselves in relationships with Bayley, Holdom or Cowan – or any of the men reported to SA services – had been able to ask authorities about their histories. This scheme has the potential to save lives and heartache, but it will require us to act when we notice red flags.

The government is also promising a new system to alert partners or ex-partners to changes to an offender’s bail or parole conditions.

We have learned from the painful perspective of hindsight that these safeguards are urgently needed.