Cairns domestic violence advocate says perpetrators should leave home

A frontline support worker says its time to shift the focus on to perpetrators, as new figures show a skyrocketing number of offenders breach domestic violence protection orders.

A YOUNG woman who was repeatedly kicked in the abdomen while seven months pregnant is a memory that brings frontline domestic violence support worker Jackie Trezise to tears.

“The perpetrator kicked the baby out, pretty much, and there was not much that could be done ... she lost the baby,” Ms Trezise said.

“Women’s beautiful pregnant tummies can be such a target, and it is very common for women to be kicked in the stomach by partners wearing steel-capped boots.”

She feels angry that when a domestic violence offence is committed, it is often women and children who are removed from their home and believes the perpetrators should be made to leave instead.

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The Far North accounted for almost 9 per cent of the state’s domestic violence protection applications in 2019-20.

Cairns alone accounted for 4.03 per cent, with a total of 1220 applications made.

Ms Trezise believes the charge of strangulation should be upgraded to one of attempted murder.

Cairns had 70 strangulation offences in 2019-20 – more than any other region in Queensland, according to Department of Public Prosecutions data.

Ms Trezise said a lack of available crisis accommodation for domestic violence victims often resulted in significant family disruption.

“Cairns women can sometimes be sent to Townsville and that’s not OK; there’s an impact when you remove a woman from the community,” she said.

“We need to help women get back on track and deal with the trauma they have experienced. I keep saying the perpetrator should be removed from the house, not the woman and the children.

The Far North accounted for almost 9 per cent of the state’s domestic violence protection applications in 2019-20.

“It disrupts routine to move them, the kids don’t get to go to school.

“We should turn women’s shelters into men’s accommodation and make them engage in behaviour programs,” Ms Trezise said

“We need to be teaching boys early lessons around respecting one another; there needs to be more done.”

Ms Trezise said domestic violence crossed all socio-economic boundaries.

“Sometimes the higher you are in status, the harder it is to get help. There’s shame involved,” she said.

Ms Trezise said domestic violence was the only offence where the perpetrator was not removed from the scene.

White Ribbon Day is a to stand up, speak out and act to say ‘no’ to gendered violence in Australia. Picture: supplied.

“If I go into a bank and abuse someone, I’d be the one removed and dealt with – why, in our own homes, when someone comes home and wrecks the place and me and the kids, why do I have to be treated like a criminal?,” she said.

A national domestic violence scourge has been once again thrust into the spotlight this week after the lifeless, burnt body of Gold Coast mum Kelly Wilkinson, 27, was found in the backyard of her Gold Coast home on Tuesday.

Brian Earl Johnston, 34, was later charged with murder and breaching a domestic violence order.

On Wednesday, Henry David Shepherdson, 38, jumped from a reservoir wall in South Australia with his nine-month-old daughter Kobi.

There were 28 domestic and family homicides in Queensland during the 2019-20 financial year, according to the Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board 2019-20 annual report.

Children represent almost one quarter of domestic violence deaths and 23 per cent in the 2019-20 financial year alone, board chairman Terry Ryan said.

“Domestic and family perpetrators were observed to use patterns of extreme violence across multiple relationships, often escalating over time,” he said.

Originally published as Cairns domestic violence advocate says perpetrators should leave home