Domestic violence, sexual assault and armed robbery in southwest Sydney

LIVERPOOL and Bankstown are the suburbs most domestic violence offenders in the southwest call home. See how your suburb rates on crime with our INTERACTIVES.

Victims of Crime Assistance League head Kerrie Thompson said increased sexual assault charges can be attributed to victims feeling more confident about reporting the abuse. Picture: iStock

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LIVERPOOL and Bankstown are the suburbs most domestic violence offenders in the southwest call home.

An exclusive suburb-by-suburb breakdown of NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics data between 2011 and March 2017, revealed Liverpool with 726 offenders, Bankstown (620) and Cabramatta (443) head the DV shame file.

Liverpool also had the most recorded incidents (1308) ahead of Bankstown (1142) in the same period.

Police spend more time investigating domestic violence than almost any other major crime category in both wealthy and disadvantaged areas.

BOCSAR data showing suburbs where alleged offenders or Persons of Interest (POIs) reside reveal that in 761 suburbs and towns across the state, more DV suspects were picked up by police than almost any other type of offender. POIs may not have been convicted in court but were proceeded against in some way by police.

In other violent crime categories the BOCSAR data also revealed Liverpool recorded the ninth highest total of sex/indecent assaults in NSW with 420. But Bankstown was home to 63

alleged sex offenders, the most in the region.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia Executive Officer Karen Willis said half to a third of all police work in some areas is now related to domestic violence.

“The most common reason women 25-44 are admitted to hospital is due to domestic violence,” Ms Willis said. “But physical violence is 20 per cent of the story, the other untold part of the story is psychological and financial abuse.”

Lisa Harnum was murdered by her fiancee Simon Gittany in 2011. Her death was one of Sydney’s most publicised domestic violence cases.

Former Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology president Professor Rick Sarre of the University of South Australia said when people are under stress from unemployment, economic or family issues they may resort to violence.

“Domestic violence is a scourge but now that it is politically a hot potato, police are acting where in decades past they may not have,” he said.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller led two domestic violence teams that targeted perpetrators and encouraged police to arrest suspects for minor crimes to stop them from committing more serious offences.

Domestic violence apps to help combat abuse

SEXUAL ASSAULT

The BOCSAR data showed sexual offence reports were trending up 2.3 per cent per year between 2011 and March 2017.

There were 32 suburbs where more than 100 sexual assaults were reported over the six years to March 2017, many of them large regional towns like Orange and Nowra.

Meanwhile Sydney and Blacktown topped the list in the metro area.

Indecent assaults were spread more broadly across the city and the state with 71 suburbs recording 100 or more incidents, including places such as Chatswood (149), Randwick (105) and Hornsby (124) in the city.

Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL) acting CEO Kerrie Thompson said the increasing number of people being picked up for sexual assault can be attributed to victims feeling more confident about reporting the abuse and understanding what constitutes sex assault.

“When women report domestic violence, we now have discussions around sex assault, and women may say they’ve been pressured into sex acts and we advise them that, that is sex assault,” Ms Thompson said.

Allira Green was stabbed to death while pregnant by her partner Christopher Anderson in 2013. A domestic violence shelter was named in her honour last month. Picture: Facebook

ASSAULTS

Surry Hills was the thug capital of NSW in 2016 with 106 resident POIs picked up for assault. Over six years from 2011 to March 2017 there were 513 brutal POIs who lived in Surry Hills, the most in Sydney, followed by Blacktown (501), Redfern (441), Waterloo (384) and Liverpool (315).

The city and entertainment areas were the most common scenes for brawls where assaults were reported to police in the thousands. Sydney was the top suburb, followed by Blacktown, Haymarket, which includes the casino, and Parramatta were the main hot spots.

There were 28 places in NSW where more than 1000 people reported being bashed between 2011 and March 2017 including Newtown (1026), Manly (1305), Wollongong (1894) and Byron Bay (1294).

Sydney suburbs where assault topped the list of crime for residents included Milsons Point (25 POIs in six years to March 2017), Beverly Hills (19 POIs last year) and Wollstonecraft (7 POIs last year).

Other suburbs where more than 100 POIs for assault were found to live since 2011 are: Maroubra (277 POIs), Dee Why (171) and Newtown (167).

ROBBERY

Robbery rates in NSW have fallen significantly.

The top suburbs where residents were found by police as POIs for robbery with a firearm between 2011 and March 2017 were: Auburn, Glebe, Marrickville, Carramar and Blacktown.

The top suburbs where robbery at gun point was reported the most in NSW during the same period were: Auburn, Blacktown, Granville, Bankstown and Lidcombe.

Robbery with other weapons was reported more than 100 times in Sydney, Liverpool and Surry Hills during the same time period, the suburbs where most robbers were found living were Auburn, Greenacre, Merrylands, Waterloo and Glebe.