Trigger warning: This post deals with child abuse and domestic violence and could be triggering for some readers.
Rosie Batty, whose 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his estranged father after cricket practice in February, has hit out at child protection authorities and police.
Luke’s father Greg Anderson attacked the boy with a cricket bat, then stabbed him as he lay on the ground in Tyabb, south-east of Melbourne.
On Monday, the first day of an inquest into Luke’s death, the court heard how Mr Anderson made threats to his young son months before the attack. In one terrifying instance, Mr Anderson held up a knife and said it was “the one that could end it all”.
And yesterday, Ms Batty told the court nobody tried to stop Mr Anderson, and that she was offered counselling rather than protection when she sought help.
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Until Men have the presumption of innocence in DV issues, there will be no progress.
The reality is male on male violence is a far bigger problem to tackle, than DV. This is a rather inconvenient truth.
Men are always treated as perps, and Women are always treated as victims. The whole strategy is demeaning to both sexes.
When over 80% of violence against both men and women is perpetrated by men, then it is difficult to not take that into account!
I think while you have a point about always making generalised assumptions, your choice of forum is poor. In this case lots of witnesses saw this man beat and stab his son, there is no presumption of which sex was responsible.
I do not personally believe that all men are perpetrators. I do however believe that there are problems with the kind of masculinities we have inherited. Change is needed. Men need to begin to take responsibility for themselves and their feelings; anger, sadness, fear, shame and joy. There are no BAD emotions. Unfelt and unacknowledged emotions fester and grow toxic. The problem is that when this happens men hurt both themselves and others around them. Taking responsibility is about a man caring first for himself. When a man looks after himself he is then able to look after those around him. Until we as a society find ways to demonstrate a masculinity that gives space for feeling we will continue to see this cycle of violence repeated in each generation.
I was receiving death threats via phone calls and text messages from my ex partner, yet the police could do nothing because he hadn't actually done anything to hurt me yet. Are they serious? I hardly slept because I was scared he would come to my house, Every time I heard someone walk past my house I freaked out, Every time I heard my phone ring or a text message come in I freaked out.
In the end I was able to get an intervention order, yet it's not really worth the paper it's written on. He could breach it (which he has many times), yet they cannot do anything because I cannot prove that it was him on the other end of the phone. It's ridiculous.
The only reason they can't do anything is because our justice system requires proof before it locks someone up ... which is fair enough - would you really want a justice system where people are thrown in jail on the say-so of one person without ANY kind of corroboration?!
It's up to the police to prove the offence in court ... and the proof has to be beyond a reasonable doubt... you can say he's called you, but if he denies it, it's your word against his - and that's not beyond a reasonable doubt.
Record any breaches ... get him on video via your mobile phone if it's in person; get him on voice recorder if it's via a phone call. Or grab a witness (neighbour, stranger on the street if you have to) that can back you up.
Give the police the ammo they can take into court and do their job on your behalf ... they want to help you but you have to give them something to work with!
Turn the phone off?
Really? This is your solution. Leave a vulnerable woman without communication?
Turn it back on, maybe?