It’s a shocking and sad reality

IT is a sad indictment on our society that women seemingly cannot feel safe walking alone on the streets of Cairns or any other city or town in Australia.

In a tourist destination like Far North Queensland, we want residents and visitors to feel safe walking our streets and visiting our natural wonders and night spots.

But despite police patrols and a network of CCTV cameras, horrific crimes against women continue, both here and nationally.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Stanley Jones has related the chilling death of an innocent 22-year-old Japanese tourist, Michiko Okuyama, 20 years ago to a number of recent high-profile murder cases including, Aiia Masarwe, Jill Meagher and Eurydice Dixon.

“These sort of random attacks on women walking the street alone are still happening in Australia … I’m not sure what it tells us about our society,” he said.

“I just don’t know what we can do to identify the males who are likely to commit these crimes.”

Here in Cairns, 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley’s life was brutally cut short while she was simply walking her dog at the beach in October.

On Wednesday evening, a 19year-old woman was grabbed by a man after she got off a bus near Kewarra Beach. The man stopped his ute, called her over, grabbed her around the waist and tried to pull her into the vehicle. Luckily, the woman fought back and managed to free herself. It shouldn’t be like this. But it is. How do we stop it? It comes down to a complete lack of respect and the superiority complex some men still believe they have the right to hold over women.

It’s simply shocking.