Figures show 55 women have been killed in suspected domestic violence attacks this year
DOZENS of women have been killed in suspected domestic violence attacks this year. Four men faced the Supreme Court yesterday charged with domestic violence killings.
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FOUR men faced the Supreme Court yesterday charged with domestic violence killings, as shocking new data revealed the problem is getting worse.
National figures released to the Herald Sun reveal that so far this year, 55 women have been killed in suspected domestic violence attacks, two more than for all of last year.
And in Victoria, police receive more than 76,000 calls a year about family violence, according to the most recent crime statistics.
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Yesterday, Alexander Dow Freeburn, 28, faced the Supreme Court for a pre-sentence plea for leniency.
Earlier this year, a jury convicted him of the 2016 murder of girlfriend Elizabeth Wilms, 29, just weeks after they began a relationship.
Her injuries were so horrific they were impossible to count accurately, but Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said her body had at least 40 separate wounds.
Exactly what triggered what the judge called a “brutal assault on a vulnerable, defenceless, person” was unclear.
But prosecutors argued Freeburn had lashed out in a fit of sexual jealousy.
Ms Wilms, who was intellectually disabled, was drug-affected when she died.
Freeburn left the apartment they shared in Kew following the attack. It is unclear whether he left her for dead or that he knew that he had killed her.
Freeburn left Melbourne and went straight to western Victoria, where he began another relationship, with a woman whom he met online.
Prosecutor Anne Hassan said the case was one of many similar cases highlighted in shocking statistics revealing alarming and widespread violence towards women.
Also appearing in the Supreme Court yesterday were Dragan Stevanovic and Mehmed Solmaz, both accused of murdering their wives.
Mr Stevanovic, 71, is charged with murdering Radmila Stevanovic, 65, at their Noble Park home in February.
Mr Solmas, 61, is charged with murdering Fatma Solmaz, 61, at her Sunshine West home in May last year.
Both men are pleading not guilty.
Also in court was Jamie Willis, 38, charged with murdering his mother Caroline Willis, 69, at Werribee in May. He is also pleading not guilty.
All three men are yet to stand trial.
Domestic Violence Victoria CEO Fiona McCormack said domestic violence was “deeply embedded in our culture” and “it’s going to take a long-term effort to tackle it.”