Arabic version: مرتكبو العنف المنزلي في نيو ساوث ويلز غالباً ما يكونون غير معروفين لدى الشرطة
According to ABC News, five suspected domestic violence deaths in New South Wales have highlighted the challenge of intervening when alleged offenders have not previously come to police attention. Four people, including three women and a child, were killed in suspected attacks over 24 hours last weekend. By Thursday, the number had risen to five after a one-year-old stabbed in the Blue Mountains died in hospital.
Police said none of the alleged offenders in the cases was known to them. The latest Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures recorded more than 38,800 domestic violence-related assaults in the 12 months to June 26, a 3.4 per cent increase over the past decade. Domestic Violence Death Review Team data shows 351 women, 230 men and 137 children have been killed in domestic violence-related homicides in NSW since 2000.
A 2021-23 Domestic Violence Death Review found that half the men who killed a female partner had a history of domestic violence that had not been reported to police. Macquarie University criminologist and former police detective Vince Hurley said information might be known to health services but not passed to police because of privacy regulations. He said alcohol, drugs and mental health were three underlying issues identified in his review of hundreds of cases, while NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson cautioned against conflating antisocial behaviour with mental ill health.
No to Violence general manager Chris Lacey said early intervention was underfunded, with 3.6 per cent of national domestic violence funding spent in that area. He called for clearer referral pathways when hospitals, GPs and other services identify risk. A 2024 NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team report found two in three women killed were killed by an ex-partner or while separating, while three-quarters of men who killed a female partner had used three or more forms of domestic violence. Domestic Violence NSW chief executive Delia Donovan called for government departments and community organisations to better understand domestic and family violence.
