Our nation’s shame as five Aussie children are killed in three weeks

Children are being killed at increasingly higher rates, with five young lives lost in just 20 days. These are the little faces we need to remember, writes journalist SHERELE MOODY.

Five Australian children have been killed in 20 days. These are the little faces we need to remember, writes SHERELE MOODY.

Let me introduce you to five special children – Charlise Mutten, Vanessa Sharma, Elizabeth Rose Struhs, an unnamed 13-year-old boy and an unnamed 17-year-old boy.

These kids did not know each other but they all have one very sad, very horrific thing in common – they were all allegedly killed in Australia by someone they knew in the past 20 days.

That’s right – in just under three weeks, Australia has lost FIVE children to acts of violence.

That’s one child killed every four days since January 1, 2022.

All of these children have allegedly died at the hands of people they knew – five males and one woman have been charged with their murders.

Lets’ say their names and vow to never forget them:

Nine-year-old Charlise Mutten

Charlise Mutten. Supplied by a schoolfriend to the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Little Charlise’s body was found stuffed in a barrel in the Colo River area of the Blue Mountains, five days after she disappeared. Her stepfather has been charged with her murder.

Six-year-old Vanessa Sharma

Vanessa was stabbed to death at her home in Mill Park in Victoria on January 13. Vanessa’s mum Poonam was also killed. Vanessa’s dad is the main suspect.  

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs

Elizabeth Rose Struhs (left) died on January 7. Her eldest sister Jayde has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her siblings.

Elizabeth was killed in Toowoomba, Qld, on January 7. Her mother and father are charged with her murder and her torture. It is alleged they refused to give her the medication she needed to survive. She had diabetes.

Unnamed 13-year-old boy

The scene of an alleged murder in Kariong. A 13-year-old boy was killed. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

A 13-year-old lad was stabbed to death at Kariong in NSW on January 11. A male teenager has been charged with his murder.

Unnamed 17-year-old boy

Scene of a fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old Cairns boy at a New Year's Eve house party in Lychee Close, Manoora. Picture: Brendan Radke

A 17-year-old boy was killed in Manoora, Qld, on New Year’s Day. A male is charged with his murder.

Rate of child killings climbs higher

I’ve been documenting the murders and manslaughters of Australians for the past five or so years and I have not seen anything like the number of children killed this year.

Normally, we lose one child every month, on average.

We all know that men are the primary victims of violence in Australia – but at this rate, that sad fact will soon be carried by the youngest and most vulnerable members of our community.

This year, the number of children killed is just one shy of the number of men killed.

For context, as I write six men have been murdered and two women have also been killed.

It is important to note that I document all unlawful deaths in Australia, regardless of a victim or perpetrator’s gender, or relationship between, the accused and the person killed.

This means not every death I document is a result of domestic and family violence.

In the wake of the loss of these children, it’s important for us all to consider what we need to do to protect kids from violence and to ensure the toll of young lives lost ends today.

We need to move away from the fear of strangers doing harm.

Stranger danger should be a concern, but at the end of the day, past cases have shown almost all of the children killed in our country are harmed by people they know – usually a parent, sometimes siblings and occasionally other relatives, neighbours, friends or associates.

As a community we need to be talking about the impact of violence on children and find ways to keep them safe.

It is not a child’s duty to protect themselves – it’s the duty of adults. We should never lose sight of that.

If you have kids in your life, please give them an extra special hug today. Hold them close and let them know how important they are to you because you just do not know if they will be taken away.

*For 24-hour domestic violence support call the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or MensLine on 1800 600 636. The Suicide Call Back service is on 1300 659 467.

News Corp’s Sherele Moody has multiple journalism excellence awards for her work highlighting violence in Australia. Sherele is also an Our Watch fellow, the founder of The RED HEART Campaign and the creator of the Australian Femicide & Child Death Map and All That Remains: The Memorial to Women and Children Lost to Violence.

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TWITTER: @Sherelemoody

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Originally published as Our nation’s shame as five Aussie children are killed in three weeks