Dire new data shows number of recorded family violence incidents at all-time high in Victoria
The number of recorded family violence incidents has reached an all-time Victorian high with ex-partners of victims surging the deadly epidemic.
Police & Courts
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The state is grappling with a rising family violence epidemic as reported incidents reached an all-time Victorian high.
The number of family violence victims presenting to hospital emergency departments across the state has also soared in dire new figures released on Wednesday.
Ex-partners of victims have been responsible for much of the 6 per cent rise in overall family violence incidents, which totalled 98,816 in 2023-24.
A rise in the number of new perpetrators (3 per cent) and an increase in the number of child victims and elderly people also contributed to the grim new milestone.
Shockingly, the number of family violence victims admitted to emergency departments jumped 21 per cent in just 12 months, largely driven by female victims of their intimate partners.
The number of male perpetrators aged between 40 and 65 has continued to rise over the past five years.
The Crime Statistics Agency data shows an alleged offender is charged in 59 per cent of family violence cases when an offence is recorded.
But they are sentenced to time behind bars just 21 per cent of the time while community orders are handed out in 14 per cent of cases that go to court.
Children have also driven the rise in the number of family violence victims accessing homelessness services, which increased 10 per cent over the past year.
Crime Statistics Agency chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said the risk factors, which include stalking or harassment, sexual assault and threats or harm to a family pet had all increased by at least 30 per cent.
“The increase in these specific risk factors is notable. This increase may suggest that the number of family violence incidents recorded by police involving coercive control in Victoria is rising,” she said.
“In the context of increased public awareness and increased recognition of the range of behaviours that can constitute family violence, however, it may also be the result of increased reporting by those impacted by family violence and increased recording of these risk factors by Victoria Police”.
Mordialloc woman Sandra Dobrila was found dead in her bayside home in a suspected murder-suicide at the hands of a man she had only met a few months ago.
Friends of Ms Dobrila say the pair had become romantically involved just recently.
She was found deceased in her James St unit last Thursday near the 39-year-old St Kilda man, whose identity remains unknown.
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