Rosie Batty breaks down over Gold Coast murder-suicide in Brisbane radio interview
ROSIE Batty has broken down in tears on Brisbane radio this morning while responding to the tragic murder of Gold Coast mother Teresa Bradford.
- PREVIOUS ATTACK: Why Bradford shouldn’t have been free
- BAIL REVIEW: Immediate denial an option, says Premier
ROSIE Batty has broken down in tears on Brisbane radio this morning while responding to the murder of Gold Coast mum Teresa Bradford, who was killed by her estranged husband while on bail.
Speaking on 97.3’s breakfast show this morning, the 2015 Australian of the Year said through tears “the system just continues to fail women in domestic violence situations”.
PREVIOUS ATTACK: Why Bradford shouldn’t have been free
BAIL REVIEW: Immediate denial an option
“I thought I was immune to it because I’ve heard so many tragic things happen since Luke’s (her son’s) death. But this has hit me because it just keeps happening.
“We need to intervene to stop the escalating behaviour. It is up to the general public to realise this is an epidemic … that will take decades of attitudinal change.”
Batty said in this case the Magistrate did not listen to police, who pleaded for David Bradford to be kept behind bars.
It prompted breakfast presenter Bianca Dye to reveal she had suffered abuse at the hands of a former partner — an incident she never reported to police.
“In my early 20s I broke up with a guy who couldn’t handle that. He showed up at my house,” Dye said.
“I was in a situation where I was terrified and I was crying in the kitchen with a knife in my hand because he punched me twice, threw my Jack Russell up against a wall, cracked a rib and he choked me.”
Dye added that she “sat there all night shivering” and never saw the attacker again.
On why she did not report the incident she said: “I don’t know, I don’t know now.”
She recalled one of her family members said at the time: “You must have done something to provoke him”.
Queensland Premier today said a review of the state’s bail laws could go ahead, including introducing an immediate bail denial for people charged with Queensland’s new strangulation offence.
It comes after The Courier-Mail reported Bradford was released from jail on bail two weeks ago after being charged with a violent attack on November 28, during which police alleged he slapped his wife, placed gaffer-tape over her mouth and punched her in the face until she blacked out, before dragging her by the hair and choking her.
Ms Batty suffered years of violence at the hands of her husband before he bashed their son, Luke, to death on a Victorian cricket oval in 2014.
Ms Batty today said much more needs to be done to educate magistrates and judges about one of the most dangerous periods for victims fleeing family violence, and that’s after they’ve reached out for legal help.
“It escalates — it always does — the danger that they’re in,” she said.
“And this is what people do not understand. That’s the time when a woman is at her most vulnerable and in danger of significant harm.
“They’ve started to take matters into their own hands, and it changes the power dynamics (in abusive relationships).”
Ms Batty said some magistrates and judges have a more sophisticated understanding of family violence than others.
But she believed far more needs to be done to educate legal minds about this danger zone for victims.
“We must make sure that our magistrates, our judges — in making decisions like this — understand the escalation of violence, and that without intervention it can end in fatalities,” she said.
“We’ve had enormous cultural change in the way police services handle domestic violence, across every state, we must insist on the same, evolving response through our judicial system. It’s not happening fast enough.”
Mrs Bradford’s friend is still struggling to comprehend that she is gone, and that despite the savage November attack, her husband granted bail. “She was scared, and scared for her kids because of what he had done,” the nursing student said.
“I didn’t expect they would let him out after what he did. They knew he was a threat to everybody. Why did they let him out? The system has failed her.”
Originally published as Rosie Batty breaks down over Gold Coast murder-suicide in Brisbane radio interview
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