Child basher’s ex: Why we need a domestic violence disclosure scheme

SAMANTHA Handley was with her ex-boyfriend for three years before she discovered the horrible truth about his life before they met.

SAMANTHA Handley was with her ex partner for three years before she found out from a shocking newspaper article he had been jailed for bashing an ex-girlfriend’s 18-month-old baby years before they met.

When the 32-year-old Victorian woman met Darren James Brown from Wagga Wagga she believed he was a decent guy, even though people close to her got a bad feeling from him.

She believed he would be a strong father figure to her children, even though her son mentioned he had been a bit rough with him when they played.

She believed she was in a loving relationship, before his control over her slowly built up and she realised he had become abusive.

And even still, she held on to the belief that he wasn’t capable of serious harm until she saw the headline “BABY BASHER JAILED” sprawled across the front page of an old newspaper with her partner’s name throughout the article underneath and discovered he had been convicted of multiple serious domestic violence offences.

Now, Samantha believes if she had access to the information she knows now about Darren’s past, it would have changed everything.

In 2011, fresh out of her 10-year marriage, she was introduced to the tattoo artist 10 years her senior by her older sister who worked with him.

Although it quickly became apparent to her sister, he wasn’t the nice guy she thought he was, Samantha was keen to pursue the relationship and believed she was in love.

“At first I refused to take any notice. I really liked this guy and he had a hold on me,” she says.

The first serious warning came from her ex, who Samantha thought was acting out of jealousy.

The father of their two children repeatedly mentioned he didn’t trust Brown and accused him of bashing his and Samantha’s son when he noticed a bruise on the young boy’s arm.

When Brown moved into Samantha’s Melbourne home, her ex became so enraged by his children having to spend so much time with this bloke he didn’t trust, he tried to take the kids away from her but failed.

Although her former partner’s concerns and protectiveness over their kids had raised suspicion in Samantha about her new boyfriend, she convinced herself that Brown was good enough for her and her family.

“Every time I second-guessed myself and I would just reassure myself that I had a green light and I trusted the system enough to conclude that my children were not at risk,” she said.

The discouragements continued from Samantha’s friends and family.

When Brown persuaded her to move from Melbourne to Benalla, more than two hours drive from the support network she had become reliant on, her mother and sister pleaded with her not to go.

Even though it often entered her mind that she was not at her best with Brown, she felt that she couldn’t leave him.

Samantha Handley and Darren James Brown with their son.

“I think what was going through my head was, I knew logically, I agreed, but I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t break free, I couldn’t break this off,” she says.

“I was so isolated from everyone and he had such a hold on me I felt like if he wasn’t present in my life I didn’t have a life.

“I’ve never had a drug addiction, but from what I’ve read about it, I think what I had with him was like an addiction. Even though I knew it was wrong the withdrawal I’ve read about that people go through is exactly what I felt with him.”

Samantha says Brown made her feel bad about herself and became emotionally abusive.

Behind closed doors he was controlling her and coercing her into things that were so shameful she felt she could never go to the police or anyone who she was close to about it.

Because she didn’t have the bruises that proved domestic violence, she felt like she couldn’t ask for help.

Eventually, concerned for her family’s future and the new baby she was then carrying, the abuse got to the point where she felt like she needed to make a change, and that she didn’t feel Brown was the man she thought he was.

Samantha didn’t know of any way to access any criminal history she was suspicious her partner could have, and didn’t know how to look at his past.

Eventually her desperate search led her to a series of newspaper clipping that made her feel sick.

The articles revealed in 1995 Brown had been fined for assaulting his then de facto partner and her 15-month-old daughter.

He was later jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to repeatedly bashing a girl when she was 18 months old, causing multiple bruising.

In a statement tendered to Wagga Local Court, a paediatrician who had examined the baby said she had major bruising all over her body, with only the area that was covered by a nappy spared.

“I have no doubt this bruising is the result of at least 14 blows to the face and trunk,” he said.

The stories showed he had been convicted of a number of other criminal offences, and had at one point escaped from prison with the public warned not to approach him while he was on the loose.

There were also quotes from Brown: “I should have really given it to her and given her something to complain about,” he told police after being caught assaulting his former partner, it was reported.

The articles confirmed all of Samantha’s suspicions, but were a lot worse than she expected.

“I knew he hadn’t been completely honest with me about his past. I knew there was a valid reason why I was afraid of him but I couldn’t exactly work out why or have evidence to back the claim up,” she said.

“I can’t explain the horror I felt reading the pediatrician’s report of the harm done upon the 18-month-old. It will haunt me forever.”

Samantha believes if she had known this about Brown earlier, she would have removed herself from him to protect herself and her children.

Even if she couldn’t find the strength to, she believes her ex husband and family members would have sought out details about his past.

“Even though I ignored my family and loved ones and what they were trying to tell me, if I had police reports, if a person of authority had told me, then that’s a reliable source, and I would have listened.”

Samantha felt sick when she saw this article about her former partner.

At the time, and even now in Victoria, there is no resource available for victims of domestic violence or people at risk to access their partners’ criminal history.

But in NSW, a pilot program is running at four sites allowing women at risk to request their partner’s criminal history from police.

The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme has been put in place to prevent people from being kept in the dark about a partner’s past, and equip them with information and give them the support to make informed decisions about their relationship.

Since being introduced in April, the program has increased the safety of dozens of NSW women, Minister for Women Pru Goward told news.com.au.

“The program has increased the safety of people potentially at risk of domestic violence by giving them the opportunity to find out if their current or former partner has a violent past,” she said.

“For too long, domestic violence has been a hidden issue. It is rarely a one-off incident, and if we are going to break the cycle we need to intervene early and prevent future violence.

Figures released exclusively to news.com.au show since its introduction, 28 women have accessed the scheme and 14 disclosures have been made.

Ms Goward said in many of those cases it was not the women at risk, but their other loved ones that noticed something was not quite right in a new relationship and made the applications for disclosure.

“Under the scheme, concerned people, such as a friend, family member or a professional already working with a family can make an application to find out about a partner’s history,” she said.

Samantha Handley and Darren James Brown.

In one case, shared with news.com.au by Women NSW, a business owner made an application after hearing about the scheme in the media.

She believed an employee of hers was a victim of domestic violence but was finding it difficult to communicate this concern to her employee.

Police assessed the application and informed a social worker at the local domestic violence service, who arranged a meeting with the business owner, the person at risk, and police officers where a disclosure was made.

The woman was shocked to learn her partner had multiple previous domestic violence convictions and jail terms.

The woman ended the relationship within weeks because her partner had started to become more controlling.

Women NSW director Director Natasha De Silva told news.com.au the scheme will be evaluated after an 18-month period and determined whether it is implemented in other areas.

The Victorian government has considered introducing a similar scheme.

A number of submissions to the state’s Royal Commission into Family Violence proposed a disclosure scheme or perpetrator’s register, but critics were concerned the information disclosed might be used improperly.

A Victorian Government spokeswomen said: “We’re making changes to information sharing laws so that the privacy of perpetrators does not trump the safety of victims and ensure that women and children are better protected.”

Although she’s heard the arguments against it, Samantha is convinced having access to a potentially abusive partner’s past is essential for at-risk women.

“I think the worst part about no current avenues open to explore if these men are some risk to yourself and children, is also the aftermath of guilt that I personally struggle. Even though I had no prior knowledge of the convictions he had, as a mother I feel that I let my family down,” she says.

Samantha says her older children were not physically harmed, but had to work with a psychologist over the mental impact of the relationship.

She says she relied on her children to get through the difficult time. They saw her cry at times when they shouldn’t have, and went through more stress than children should.

“They were also the only ones who believed in me when I said there was more to this man’s past. Why? Because they also experienced the fearfulness at times even without him having to say a word,” she says.

“To think all that could of been avoided if from the start I had known the high risk based on evidence. I feel I let my children down. I’ll never forgive myself. But the system let me down too.”

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