NSW minister for women vows to look at police response after Tatiana Dokhotaru’s death
The New South Wales minister for the prevention of domestic violence, Jodie Harrison, says “no child should lose a mum at that age” and has vowed to make any necessary changes after a 34year-old woman was discovered dead in her Sydney unit.
Harrison said she wanted to make sure “everything that should have been done was done”, speaking a day after premier Chris Minns described a gap of 20 hours between an anonymous call to triple-zero and the discovery of Tatiana Dokhotaru’s body on Saturday as “very concerning”.
Police have said they traced the midnight call to triple-zero to a Liverpool unit block, but could not find the apartment where the incident had occurred when they arrived about 3am.
A man was arrested at the unit block on Saturday night but has not been charged over the death.
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Harrison expressed her sadness over the death and said she would make sure that if any changes needed to occur, they would.
“My thoughts are certainly with Tatiana’s family and her friends and particularly her son – they must be feeling incredible amount of pain at the moment. No child should lose a mum at that age,” she told Guardian Australia on Tuesday.
“We really do need to make sure that everything that should have been done was done.”
Harrison, who was sworn in as minister in April, also praised some of the work being done by police.
She pointed to operations carried out by police earlier this year which she said had resulted in “some really good outcomes”.
In January, more than 600 people were arrested during a four-day police blitz on domestic violence offenders. A similar number of arrests were made in another operation last month.
She said the work needed to continue, citing the need for “increased support” for women.
Police are reviewing the “deeply traumatic” incident and needed time and space to conduct their inquiries, Minns said on Monday.
“It is very concerning,” he said.
“I can understand the public is very worried about a traumatic incident.
“We need to make sure that the police have got the chance to do their inquiries so that we can announce what changes, if any, need to be made.
“I want to make sure that we get to the bottom of it.”
The man arrested at the unit block, Danny Zayak, appeared at the Liverpool local court on Monday, charged with 18 offences including assault, stalking or intimidation, choking without consent, and contravening an apprehended violence order.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org