New Zealand’s sad homicide shame
More women allegedly died at the hands of a partner or ex partner in 2019 than any year in the past decade – numbers the justice minister says are both ‘‘upsetting and disturbing".
It comes as The Homicide Report, a major Stuff investigation, obtains never-beforereleased police data that reveals the vast majority of men who kill an intimate partner have at least one violence conviction.
Despite that, police say a scheme that allows women to background check new partners they suspect have a violent past is being under utilised.
According to The Homicide Report, at least 126 people – 86 men, 27 women and 13 young people – died in suspicious or homicidal circumstances in 2019. That number includes the 51 people killed in the Christchurch terror attack.
Among the victims are 12 women allegedly killed by a partner or ex-partner, making 2019 the worst year for intimate partner violence since 2009.
New Zealand’s homicide rate is low by international standards but the nation consistently outranks other developed countries when it comes to family violence, particularly intimate partner violence and child abuse. On average, nine women are killed by their partner or expartner every year.
Officials fear the isolation and stress created by the Covid-19 response will lead to a spike in domestic abuse.
The Homicide Report, which is built around a database of more than 1100 homicides spanning 2004 to 2019, has obtained a new tranche of police data. Released under the Official Information Act, it reveals the age, ethnicity and violent histories of people charged with homicide offences. The data shows intimate partner killings touch all sectors of society, more than other types of homicide, but they are still skewed towards the most deprived areas.
The average age of a killer in New Zealand is 32 but men who kill a partner or ex-partner are typically a decade older.
Nearly half the intimate partner perpetrators identified as European and a quarter were Ma¯ori. Ma¯ori feature more prominently across other homicide types.
Significantly, 85 per cent of men who kill their partner or expartner have at least one violence conviction, the data shows.
In 2015, police launched the Family Violence Information Disclosure Scheme, which allows women to background check a new partner’s violent past. It also enables police to seek out women they believe are in danger and alert them about their partner’s history.
Senior Sergeant Daniel Hughes said 88 applications for information were made in 2019. As at March 13, the police had received a further 19. He could not say how many of those applications resulted in information being shared.
‘‘It is not well utilised in New
Zealand, certainly not as much as it could be.’’
Hughes said police ensured women receiving the personal and traumatic information had support from agencies and, where appropriate, family and friends.
‘‘Some of the people coming in are about to be told their partners
2019 was the worst year for intimate partner violence since 2009.
have horrendous violence and sexual histories.’’ Knowledge of a partner’s violent past was only part of the issue and escaping a violent relationship could be incredibly hard, he said.
Women’s Refuge chief executive Dr Ang Jury said women who sought help often knew their partner was violent. Often women believed the first two or three violent episodes were isolated incidents and the man would change, Jury said.
‘‘Knowing that he has done it to someone else might provide a little bit of comfort, you know, knowing that it is not you but that is about all.’’ She said most women who approached Women’s Refuge did not want to leave their partner, despite the violence. ‘‘They love this person, they might have children with them, they have invested in a future with them … all of those things hold them in there.’’
Jury said the number of intimate partner homicides in 2019 was ‘‘absolutely horrifying’’ and work to combat the problem ‘‘does not appear to be making a hell of a lot of headway’’.
Too many resources had been dedicated to services resembling an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff and not enough to preventive measures. She acknowledged the Government was trying to tackle major social problems but there was no drop in the number of women seeking help from her organisation.
The 2019 Wellbeing Budget set aside $320 million to reduce family violence and sexual offending.
Justice Minister Andrew Little said the number of intimate partner homicides last year was ‘‘upsetting and disturbing’’.
It was important agencies worked with not only victims but also perpetrators. ‘‘No community is immune from [family violence].’’ It is just a hunch but he wonders if men have struggled to adapt to ‘‘changing social trends’’.
But Jury said there had been far more dramatic shifts in decades gone by.
Devon Polaschek, a psychology professor at Waikato University, said Little’s suggestion was a small piece of a complex puzzle. Men who felt insecure about their role in a family were among the most dangerous. ‘‘Arguably that is what drives a lot of the power and control strategies, which for some men are at the core of why they kill their partner.’’
Mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, financial stress, unprocessed childhood trauma and the normalisation of violence across generations were other contributing factors, said Polaschek.
Jury said she was thrilled to see The Homicide Report had obtained data that provided insight into the types of men committing intimate partner violence. ‘‘Domestic violence is not a Ma¯ori problem ... it is a social problem. It is refreshing to see something that takes the focus away from brown men as the most violent.’’
Shine policy advisor Holly Carrington said the homicide statistics represented a small fraction of domestic violence. ‘‘What we don’t know from those stats is how many were very nearly killed.’’
Shine was inundated with woman needing help, she said. "We’re not able to . . . come close to meeting the demand for our services so we have to focus on the highest risk cases."