Domestic violence warning signs went unheeded by courts, report shows

A QUARTER of women killed by their current or former partners were supposed to be protected by a court order at the time of their death, new data reveals.

A QUARTER of women killed by their current or former ­partners were supposed to have beeen protected by court orders at the time of their deaths, new data reveals.

An inaugural report that combines national family ­violence deaths for the first time, including many previously unreported killings, shows that there were 152 ­intimate ­partner homicides ­between 2010 and 2014.

From these, at least 108 children and teenagers lost a parent to domestic homicide.

The report commissioned by the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network, found that men were the perpetrators in 80 per cent of cases.

FAMILY VIOLENCE REFORMS ‘AT RISK OF FAILING’

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DATA REVEALS COST OF FAMILY ABUSE

MAJOR CASH INJECTION FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Half were drunk at the time of the killing and the majority had abused their female partners before their deaths.

Just over a third of men killed a former partner, with half of these deaths occurring within three months of the ­relationship ending.

A quarter of women killed by their current or former ­partners were supposed to have beeen protected by court orders at the time of their deaths, new data reveals.

A Domestic Violence Order was in place for 24 per cent of male ­perpetrators at the time of the deaths.

One in five men died by suicide after killing their partner.

Most females who killed their partner had been violently abused by that man.

Network chairwoman Heidi Ehrat said the aim of the report was to better understand the circumstances and context of each domestic ­violence death, and to improve ­prevention.

“Domestic and family violence deaths rarely occur without warning. In many fatal cases, there have been repeated episodes of abuse prior to the homicide, as well as identifiable risk indicators,” the report states.

“There have typically also been potential missed opportunities for individuals or agencies to intervene before the death.

An inaugural report that combines national family ­violence deaths for the first time, shows there were 152 ­intimate ­partner homicides ­between 2010 and 2014.

“When viewed as the escalation of a predictable pattern of behaviour, domestic and family violence deaths can be seen as largely preventable.”

White Ribbon Australia executive manager of research and policy Christina Jarron said the report would help ­inform policy and practical ­approaches to ending men’s ­violence against women.

“The more we understand about these patterns, the more we can do to predict a man’s behaviour and intervene to stop violence from escalating,” Ms Jarron said.

“Importantly, we can use this information to prevent the violence from happening in the first place.

“This includes challenging elements of our culture that normalise aggressive and violent behaviour in men.”

[e-mail]