Domestic violence link to youth crime in Townsville laid bare

There’s a clear link between youth crime and the violence happening behind closed doors in Townsville homes, according to the city’s top domestic violence cop.

Detective Senior Sergeant Adam Golding, officer in charge of Townsville's Domestic Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Unit, with Northern Region Acting Assistant Commissioner Monique Ralph. Picture: Natasha Emeck

There’s a clear link between youth crime and the violence happening behind closed doors in Townsville homes, according to the city’s top domestic violence cop.

Detective Senior Sergeant Adam Golding, head of the Domestic, Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Unit, says many young offenders share one thing in common — homes marked by violence, drug abuse and instability.

“You find there is that link between youth crime and domestic violence in the house,” he said.

“The kids … often come from broken homes, or homes where they’ve experienced violence, drug use, alcohol issues and those sorts of issues.

“The stable home is obviously the best place to bring up your child — but we don’t see many kids from that environment that turn to the youth crime.”

His comments come as Queensland Police launch Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month this May, calling for action, awareness and accountability.

Snr Sgt Golding revealed that 43 per cent of police service calls in the district last financial year were domestic or family violence related.

“It would be slightly up,” he said.

“The more awareness out there in the community comes the confidence of people to report. And I think that leads to the high figures that we do see.”

The warning follows a tragic run of incidents, with three women allegedly killed in DV-related incidents across Townsville and Palm Island late last year.

And on Australia Day, nine-year-old Thai-li Ned was found dead in a Kirwan home with fatal head injuries. A 24-year-old female relative has been charged with his murder.

“It’s very difficult for police to deal with something like that,” Snr Sgt Golding said.

Thai-li Ned, 9, was found dead in a Kirwan home with fatal head injuries on Australia Day.

“Not just at the scene — what follows is just as heavy. There’s a lot to it.”

He explained that every death linked to domestic or family violence triggers a full-scale investigation through DV and child death review boards — designed to examine the entire case history and identify if any opportunities to intervene were missed.

“A lot of the times with our high needs families that we try and work with we don’t see the fatalities at the end,” he said.

“It’s sometimes the people don’t report domestic violence where we see a fatality.

“There’s nothing we can wrap around that to say why it does or doesn’t happen.”

Townsville has a network of wraparound services — including Child Safety, NQDV, Yumba Meta and the Red Cross — that are ready to respond when families are in crisis.

When it comes to children caught in domestic violence situations, Snr Sgt Golding said there’s no one size fits all approach and officers must assess each case on its own.

“We can’t take a statement from a child, but we can get a version from a child,” he said.

“So depending on the situation, that’s up to every officer who attends a domestic violence situation to assess it and see what needs to be done. There’s no hard and fast rules around what they need to do.”

As part of this month’s awareness campaign, police are also stepping into schools to talk directly with students about respect, healthy relationships and recognising early signs of abuse.

Originally published as Domestic violence link to youth crime in Townsville laid bare