Domestic violence is a heinous crime for which there is absolutely no excuse.
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Every day women and children suffer at the hands of men who cannot control their anger, who have no respect for others, who cowardly control and intimidate and threaten.
It is true that some men are victims, but the absolute vast majority of those who are caught-up in this cancer on society are not.
If there is any sort of positive to be drawn from this terrible blight it is that awareness of the absolute repugnant nature of this crime is becoming more and more widespread.
This is giving confidence to women to report such crimes – Border police point out how this is the reason for the increase, in recent years, of domestic violence-related assaults in crime statistics – and more people are talking about ways that society can redress what has been happening.
There can be no doubt that White Ribbon Day has played a vital role in bringing about such change.
But the terribly sad fact is that such vile acts continue right across our community. And it is not just physical violence, though that has inflicted a terrible toll.
Sit in a court room on the Border and you will quickly see for yourself how that is usually manifested – by perpetrators, by cowards, hiding behind their mobile phone.
So often magistrates are having to impose apprehended violence orders because women are deluged with text and other social media messages threatening harm.
They are getting messages that are so frequent that the despair they feel is in no way different to if they were being followed along a residential street.
Another form of abuse is told by “Rachel” in a special report in Saturday’s The Border Mail. As she says, an online relationship that was rosy at first ended up with her now ex-boyfriend, Jason Robert Fordham, fronting Wodonga court.
Fordham had attacked her dog with such ferocity that it did not survive. What was especially frightening for “Rachel” was the growing psychological control he exerted.
In many cases too the physical reaches its most drastic end. White Ribbon Australia points out how a woman is killed by a current or former partner, on average, every week in Australia.
We all have a role to play in doing what we can to tackle the horrific scourge of domestic violence.