Advocates call for domestic violence reforms
MILFORD — By all appearances, Julie Minogue did everything she was supposed to when Ewen Dewitt, the father of her 3-year-old allegedly sent her 220 harassing text messages last month.
“Try not to get killed with that stupid f—ing mouth of yours,” Dewitt said in one of the texts, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.
“You did it I’m going to the cops,” Minogue replied.
And she did — filing a formal complaint with police Nov. 14. She also went to the courthouse to file an application for a restraining order, concluding her affidavit with the words “I’m scared he’s going to kill me.”
A judge granted the order Dec. 1. Police said Dewitt, who they said confessed to the crime, killed her Dec. 6.
While all the facts remain to be seen, victim advocates said what has been revealed thus far shows that despite reforms, cases like Minogue’s show the state is failing victims.
“The systems meant to protect victims of domestic violence are clearly doing an inadequate job,” said Danielle Pollack, policy manager at the National Family Violence Law Center based at George Washington University School of Law.
Many details about the case are still unknown. On Thursday, for example, Milford cops said they had taken an arrest warrant application to the courthouse five days after Minogue’s complaint, but that “To date, the warrant is unsigned.”
State’s Attorney Margaret E. Kelley, the city’s top prosecutor, declined to comment Thursday, but on Friday released a statement through the state Division of Criminal Justice that said prosecutors had “immediately” reviewed the warrant and sent it back to the police seeking more information.
“It was not resubmitted,” Kelley said.
Neither police nor the Division of Criminal Justice elaborated further Friday.
State Victim Advocate Natasha Pierre said cases like Minogue’s show weaknesses in the system. “It has not been a good system ever,” Pierre said. “It’s gotten worse since COVID.”
“It just seems like their big goal is to empty the prisons, period, by any means necessary, and they have not really considered domestic violence issues,” she said, speaking generally and not about this particular case.
She and others said the system still gives too much deference in custody matters to abusive parents.
According to court records, Dewitt petitioned for visitation rights in January 2021 despite a protective order being in place in connection with his 2019 arrest — during which police said he drunkenly threw a playpen at Minogue’s head when she was
holding their son, then just six weeks old.
Through an attorney, Minogue objected, citing the pending domestic violence charges, Dewitt’s substance abuse issues, and a subsequent domestic arrest in North Carolina. But the two sides eventually came to an agreement for Dewitt to have weekly visits supervised by Minogue, according to the documents.
Her lawyer in the custody matter said Thursday that Minogue was afraid of Dewitt and didn’t want him seeing their son, but that “she wanted to make sure herself the child was OK.”
“We see this pattern all the time,” Pollack said. “An adult victim is being abused and harassed for extended periods, and the way that abusers like this who are really chronic, persistent, and obsessive about their victim, the way that they continue access or maintain knowledge about where she’s living and her movements and her routine is through child custody.”
“The custody courts are too liberal about granting custody access to people who are clearly a danger: criminal history, many protective orders, arrests, repeated assaults, harassive behavior,” Pollack said. “It just gives access to the abusers to continue their harms against the adult victim and their children.”
Christine Cocchiola, a licensed social worker, professor at Naugatuck Valley Community College and board member of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, is an educator on “coercive control,” which was added to the statutory definition of domestic violence in the state via “Jennifer’s Law,” named after Jennifer Dulos.
“Most domestic abuse is based on one person having power over
the other person,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be overt. It can be very covert and insidious.”
Such control can take many forms, such as financial pressure.
During an April 2021 hearing in Dewitt’s criminal case, for example, his lawyer noted several times that Dewitt had been paying for the home in which Minogue was staying with her children.
“Your Honor, the most important thing you need to understand is, that the home that this young woman — they’re not married. The home where this young woman lives is my client’s home,” the lawyer, David DeRosa, said, according to a transcript.
DeRosa, who did not return messages seeking comment, said during the hearing that though Dewitt had been paying close to $3,000 a month to support Minogue “without any complaint…eventually something is going to have to be worked out if they don’t reunify, which I don’t know if they will or won’t.”
“At some point I’m going to be compelled, as a civil attorney, to reobtain his home from this woman,” he said later. “She’s not going to live there forever for free.”
“If you leave, you’re going to lose everything,” Cocchiola said.
At the same time, Dewitt did show some progress, according to court records: immediately after his 2019 arrest, he enrolled himself in an alcohol detox program, followed by a month-long inpatient treatment and domestic violence counseling through the VA.
At the 2021 hearing, Minogue, through a court victim’s advocate, said Dewitt had been doing better, and asked for the protective order to be modified again or
withdrawn completely.
“It’s very nuanced,” Cocchiola said. “It’s intermittent with reinforcement that is positive. And if you’re a person that wants to make a relationship work, you’re going to stick around longer.”
The judge in the case, while approving an application from Dewitt to take part in a diversionary Family Violence Education Program, left the protective order in place.
The Judicial Branch declined to share any records related to Dewitt’s participation in the Family Violence Program.
State law tasks that program with preparing reports for the court, family relations counselor, and police and bail commissioners to consider — but forbids its public release or to be used in any other court proceedings.
Cocchiola called for more education and training surrounding the issue and for greater protections for domestic violence victims, who she said can be at greatest risk when they decide to seek help.
For example, a 2008 study of 231 cases of intimate partner homicide found that of the roughly 11 percent of the victims who had obtained a restraining order, about one-fifth were killed within two days of the order being issued. About one-third were killed within a month.
“What we also need is a way to empower victims,” Cocchiola said. “How do we arm victims? If a victim gets a restraining order, should they get a GPS bracelet (showing where the offender is)? Is that what we need to do? Because this isn’t working.”
Others, like Meghan Scanlon, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said it is too early to determine if systemic problems were at play in Minogue’s case.
“I don’t know that we have like a policy failure here,” she said. “This case should not deter people from filing for and applying for a restraining order if that’s what they see as one of their ways to stay safe.”
She said the Connecticut Domestic Violence Fatality Review Task Force will review the case after it works its way through the court system. That task force’s most recent report found that there has been an uptick in intimate partner violence using a notable increase in the use of knives or edged weapons in recent years.
Pierre, the state victim advocate, called on those concerned to call the office of Gov. Ned Lamont and their local legislators.
“They can enforce the law,” Pierre said. “This is not rocket science. We have laws to protect people.”
Lamont, during a news conference in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford following the monthly meeting of the State Bond Commission on Thursday morning, said he is committed to further strengthening state laws on domestic violence — and “making sure that our judges know the background of everybody.”
“That person, I understand,” Lamont said, referring to Dewitt, “served some time, maybe, but he came out. We need to be very strict in order to keep people safe.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the federal government “has made some progress, but nowhere near enough” to combat domestic violence.”
“In this instance, tragically, as often occurs, there were strong warning signs and a deeply disturbing history,” Blumenthal said. “Of course, the investigation’s still ongoing. But clearly, more resources and support are necessary for law enforcement to effectively enforce protective orders and other means of helping potential victims in times of grave threat.”
While Scanlon’s organization operates 18 domestic violence shelters, the Domestic Violence Hotline, and housing and support counselors, federal regulations she said prohibit her from sharing whether the victim in this case sought help from her network of supports. She noted, however, that the housing market is making it difficult for domestic violence survivors who wish to move to a safe place, and the emergency domestic violence shelters are over capacity.
Scanlon said she is unsure how successful the Family Violence Education Program is in deterring future violence, but would like to see an assessment of that program to identify potential areas for improvement.