12,000 domestic violence calls went unanswered

MORE than 12,000 calls for help from victims of domestic violence went unanswered last year.

The 12,000 callers who got through reported death threats, constant stalking, strangulation, coercion into acts of pornography, and being denied money for basic provisions.

Director of Women’s Aid Margaret Martin said the extreme violence had even become difficult for the people manning its helpline to deal with.

“Some of the things we would have come across in 2006 were the likes of women having guns put into their mouths and threatened with knives.

“And you don’t know whether to categorise it as emotional or physical abuse when you have a woman having petrol poured over her and a lighter held near her with the abuser threatening to incinerate her.

“And still so many women are beaten with hands and fists and you cannot take them away from the abuser,” she said.

Almost half of people who contacted the service in 2006 were calling for the first time.

Women’s Aid said a significant number of first-time victims were pregnant at the time of abuse, resulting in stillbirths, miscarriages or injuries to the unborn child.

Some 60% of callers reported emotional abuse, with 6% saying they had been sexually assaulted. In 4,800 cases, a child was being abused or there were children affected by violence in the home.

Overall, the number of women calling the domestic violence helpline fell by 1,500. However, this was before a four-year fund freeze was lifted in January 2007, which allowed Women’s Aid to pump an extra €90,000 into its service.

Ms Martin said the provisional figures for 2007 indicated a rise in demand and the service’s ability to answer calls.

She also welcomed the Government’s decision to open the new Cosc office to co-ordinate a national response to domestic abuse, sexual assault and gender-based violence.

Ms Martin said the expanded scope of the office and its initial enthusiasm had offset the concerns of women’s groups that threatened to boycott the office when it was first announced before the election.

At the event, the head of the Cosc office Eimear Fisher said it had already identified areas for improvement.

“This office has been given a role by the Government to provide a whole government response. All the NGOs, state departments and agencies are involved in developing this.

“We have sought permission from the chief justice to talk to judges and see how the system can be improved in that area. We will be working with all the partners to do our best to collectively support victims of violence,” she said.

Chair of Women’s Aid Ursula Regan said the courts remained a real barrier to women breaking away from abusive relationships.

She said as of yesterday there was a 16-week wait at Dublin’s family law centre for victims seeking barring orders to have their case heard. Those who applied yesterday would have to live with their abuser under “enormous pressure” to withdraw the complaint, till past Christmas at least.