ABUSED ...THEN KILLED
Most women who were murdered also victims of assaults in the home
A DOMESTIC violence survivor has demanded action after Garda figures showed 75% of victims of murders, sex assaults, threats and assaults are women.
One key finding showed how 52% of homicides last year began with a history of domestic violence.
The number of sexual assaults increased in 2021 with 80% of victims female.
Attempts or threats to murder, including assaults, harassments and related offences, also increased. Of these, 57% of victims were male while 43% were female.
Priscilla Grainger, who founded Stop Domestic Violence Ireland, said: “This is nothing new. I am not surprised by these figures.
“Yet again it shows we need to have more gardai, more trained gardai who understand domestic violence.
“I have had, in the past two weeks, five places where victims didn’t get barring orders because the gardai didn’t serve the summons on time.
“I got those victims into safe accommodation or they would have been murdered. I firmly believe that.
“I spent eight hours in Dolphin House on Thursday trying to fight a case and we are back next week. The judge was not happy the summons was served properly by the gardai.
“Something as simple as the serving of a notice wasn’t done right and that can throw the case back.
“Justice Minister Helen Mcentee is doing a great job in trying to get domestic violence dealt with but as I said to her, what will happen to the victims who fall between the cracks?”
Det Chief Supt Colm Noonan said, “We are unwavering in our commitment to supporting victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and investigating and prosecuting offenders.
“This report and the detailed analysis and trends it provides will inform us, at an operational level, on how we can build on the successful achievements of Operation Faoiseamh.
Among the recent victims of violent abuse was 24-year-old mother-of-two Jennifer Poole who was stabbed to death at her Dublin home in April last year by Gavin Murphy.
Another horrific case was that of Nadine Lott who was left “completely unrecognisable” after her former partner attacked her in December 2019.
The mother-of-two had been beaten, kicked, stabbed and struck
with a charger for a tyre pump. In August last year, it took the jury just five hours and 46 minutes to find Daniel Murtagh guilty of murder.
In 2021 Rafal Karaczyn was found guilty of strangling his wife Natalia in their home in Sligo on April 29, 2018.
Seema Banu, 37, had endured years of physical and mental torture from her husband Sameer Syed who tried to strangle her on two occasions
before he killed her and her children in October 2020 in their home in Rathfarnham, South Dublin.
He was awaiting trial for the murder of his wife and their two children Asfira Riza, 11, and sixyear-old Faizan Syed when he took his own life.
Ms Grainger said: “The big power speeches and legislation are all great but they are not filtering down through the
stations. I
believe [Garda] Commissioner Drew Harris is doing a good job but the gardai are not following through.
“Whether that’s being under resourced, lack of training, I don’t know. I am not saying all stations are failing victims, but most of the stations are not listening to the powers that be and us survivors are.
“Other victims are not being told if their abuser is in or out of prison. One of our clients rang the gardai to ask about her attacker and one station was saying he’s in jail, the other was saying he’s out. What is going on there? Why is this not a better service.
“I believe more murders will happen because of the lack of support in bridging the gap for those who are brave enough to come forward but have nowhere to go while waiting for their case to be dealt with.
“It is worse on the ground and mistakes are happening as a result. I’m now considering for the first time ringing Commissioner Harris’ office myself to report my concerns.”