Concerning data reveals alleged male stalkers often have records of assaulting females

A concerning rate of alleged male stalkers also have a record of assaulting women, with advocates demanding reports of stalking be taken “more seriously”.

Celeste Manno's mother Aggie Di Mauro speaks at a rally outside Parliament House in Melbourne to call for justice for her daughter who was murdered in her Mernda home by a stalker in 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

More than two in three men accused of stalking women have also allegedly assaulted a female, a new report shows, as advocates call for complaints to be “taken more seriously”.

But despite the shocking data, mother of stalked and murdered woman Celeste Manno, Aggie Di Mauro, says “nothing has changed” when it comes to looking after Victoria’s women.

A new report from the Crime Statistics Agency into men’s violence against women revealed stalking could act as a “precursor to an assault incident”, with data showing 70 per cent of male stalkers had allegedly assaulted a woman in the past decade.

Thousands protested against gender based violence across Victoria this year. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Ms Di Mauro has lobbied for significant reform, demanding high-risk stalkers be tracked with electric monitors which she said “could have saved Celeste’s life”.

“Mothers and fathers reach out to me, terrified for their daughters’ safety, asking for

advice—and I don’t know what to tell them,” she said.

Celeste Manno was murdered by her stalker while sleeping in her bedroom in November 2020. Picture: Supplied

“How can I offer them hope when nothing has changed since Celeste’s death?

“The sentences imposed are clearly not deterring others, given the increase in the number of these crimes against women, but worst of all the courts are repeatedly failing to adequately denounce violence against women.”

No recommendations on electronic monitoring were made by the Victorian Law Reform Commission to the state government as part of its report on stalking earlier this year, citing the “disadvantages outweigh the benefits”.

In the past year about two thirds of alleged assault and stalking incidents between male offenders and female victims involved adult intimate partners, while stalking was more likely to involve former partners.

The CSA research paper — published last month — looked at alleged non-driving homicide, assault, sexual offences and stalking, following an increase in women’s deaths by alleged male offenders.

Aggie Di Mauro, mother of Celeste Manno who was murdered by a co-worker in 2020, addresses thousands who have gathered at Federation Square for the national rally against gender based violence. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

While 85 per cent of alleged male offenders had killed, assaulted or stalked a woman in the past year, nearly half had offended multiple times in the past decade.

Moreover, 13 per cent of “high frequency offenders” — with five or more alleged incidents — were responsible for more than a third of the total alleged incidents in the past 10 years.

It comes as a family violence incident was recorded about every five minutes in Victoria in FY24, with children the victims at least once an hour.

The Casey area recorded the most family violence incidents in the state ahead of Wyndham, Geelong, Hume and Melton.

Regional hubs such as Bendigo and Ballarat also ranked in the top 15 municipalities for domestic violence.

Nearly 80 per cent of domestic violence victims in Victoria are women and children.

Women between the age of 30 to 39 are the most commonly reported victims of domestic violence incidents and female children are more than twice as likely than male children to be a victim of family violence, with 4381 criminal incidents recorded against them.

Safe and Equal acting chief executive Jelena Djurdjevic said demand for family violence services had been increasing and the housing crisis had had an impact.

“Family violence remains significantly under-reported, and reported offences are only the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

“Victim survivors are facing notable delays when trying to access support.”

Protests and rallies against gender based violence have been held across the country this year: Andrew Henshaw

Ms Djurdejevic said despite recent federal government grants, specialist family violence services remained stretched to capacity.

“These services lay a critical role in keeping victim survivors safe, but specialist workers need secure jobs and adequate resources to continue their work,” she said.

“Both prevention and response efforts require long-term, sustainable funding to ensure we can support survivors, and address violence effectively.”

Hundreds of thousands of people nationwide took a stand against violence against women across various rallies earlier this year.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said the force took all reports of stalking and sexual offences “extremely seriously”.

“These crimes are unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” a spokesperson said.

“We recognise that stalking and sexual offences are gendered crimes, with the majority of perpetrators male and the majority of victims female.

“Both crimes occur in the context of power and control, causing significant harm to victims. “Unwanted pervasive behaviour when considered as singular incidents can be difficult to recognise as stalking.

“Police are continuing to respond to increasing rates of these crimes – working day in and day out to hold perpetrators to account and ensure the safety of victims.”

Attorney General Jaclyn Symes said the government was “continuing to work on how we can better protects victims of stalking”.

“We know that stalking can cause lasting harm to survivors’ mental and physical health and can escalate to more serious offending,” she said.

“Our recently announced women’s safety and family violence package will help stop violence before it starts, hold perpetrators to account and ensure we have a justice system that better responds to the needs of victims.”

In May, the government announced it would allow victims to take out longer intervention orders against abusive partners, and boost the powers of Victoria Police to slap offenders with longer family violence safety notices.