Hunting the ones who keep on abusing

The men who move from partner to partner, threatening, abusing and violently assaulting women are key targets of the six specialist police teams placed throughout NSW.

Exclusive: The men who move from partner to partner, threatening, abusing and violently assaulting women are key targets of the six specialist police teams placed throughout NSW.

New data shows some of the state’s most violent domestic violence offenders have as many as seven victims and, despite apprehended violence orders or stints in jail, continue their reign of terror.

In the central metro region, a man was charged with several domestic violence offences involving seven different women over the past five years.

He had choked, assaulted and threatened his most recent partner.

The Central Metro Region DV High Risk Offenders Team was alerted to his behaviour and launched an urgent investigation, working with a Community Corrections officer.

Detective Inspector Jane Prior and Superintendent Danielle Emerton at the DV registry in Parramatta. Picture: Julian Andrews

As a result the State Parole Authority issued a revocation of parole warrant and police executed the warrant to get him back behind bars.

In the North West Metro Region an offender was extradited from South Australia, wanted for offences against multiple ex-partners.

Police allege he had violently assaulted one of his victims by putting her in a choke hold and detaining her for two hours.

During a separate incident he held a knife to her throat and threatened her, before placing both hands around her throat and choking her, police will allege.

The North West region’s DV High Risk Offender Team investigated and located the alleged offender in South Australia.

He was extradited to Sydney where his outstanding warrants were executed.

In the South West Metro Region a man was wanted in relation to three separate DV incidents involving three separate victims.

All three were intimate partners and he would threaten to distribute intimate images, made threats to harm the victims, and harassed one of victims by making in excess of 200 calls to them, police will allege.

He was arrested and charged with contravening AVO, stalk/intimidate and distributing intimate images, involving the three separate victims.

The alleged offender was refused bail awaiting his court case.

Superintendent Danielle Emerton, who runs the NSW Police Domestic Violence Registry (DFVR), is responsible for the identification of dangerous offenders said the registry is targeting the worst of the worst offenders to try and stop the ­escalating behaviours of these criminals.

She said the HRO teams within the six police regions across the state were targeting “trigger” offences, such as strangulation, aggravated ­assaults and sexual violence, noting women who experience non-fatal strangulation by their partner are 800 per cent more likely to become a victim of homicide.

Superintendent Emerton said each team includes a number of police officers, a strategic intelligence manager and analyst, who proactively identify these dangerous offenders to allow police to engage with a range of strategies.

Stop coercive control

NSW Police officers, investigators, police prosecutors and unsworn staff are undergoing specialised Coercive Control training to identify, charge and prosecute domestic violence offenders who coercively control their victims.

Laws which carry a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment, will come into effect on 1 July and will apply within intimate-partner relationships.

Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell. Picture: Christian Gilles

Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell told the Saturday Telegraph the NSW Police Force was committed to making sure all officers understood the new coercive control laws and the identified behaviours, or red flags, to look out for.

“NSWPF have trained 19000 sworn and unsworn officers in the first phase of Coercive Control training and committed to have 75 per cent of sworn officers complete Phase 2 training before July 1.”

Mr Thurtell said the Force was working closely with Police Scotland, who already worked with coercive control laws to make sure best practices are in place.

He said the key was making sure all police personnel could hit the ground running, with the understanding and skills to identify the abusive behaviours and red flags, including financial abuse and the many forms of controlling behaviour.

“We are doing everything we can to educate officers about having an open mind to all nuances in a relationship, so when they are called to an incident, they are able to investigate it thoroughly.

“Police have been provided training and knowledge from expert panel on how best to deal with this situation.

“For example, looking at whether victims have access to communication devices such as mobile phones and social support networks, so they can be autonomous and be in control of their destiny.”

Mr Thurtell said victims could continue to help in the prosecution of cases by downloading the Empower You app.

The brainchild of two Sydney cops, Empower You is a critical tool for victims of domestic and family violence who may not be ready to go to authorities.

It allows them to create a log of ongoing abuse that can one day be used as evidence in court.

Since the Saturday Telegraph announced its launch in July last year the app has been downloaded more than 13500 times and has already been used to prosecute a Domestic Violence matter.