Sarah Harte: Abused women and children let down by state agencies working in silos

Government’s zero-tolerance plan to tackle domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence is failing in several critical areas

The Wall of Dolls in Milan dedicated to victims of feminicide. The installation symbolises the suffering but also the tenacity of women. Picture: Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Last Wednesday on Liveline, Mary recounted to Joe Duffy how her former partner Daniel Kane was the first man in Ireland to be convicted of coercive control. He also cut her face with a pizza slicer, stamped on her head, burned her foot, and strangled her.

During the original trial, the judge noted that the accused’s senior counsel was instructed to suggest to the victim that "she was prone to hysteria". Mary did not press charges because she was afraid that nobody would believe her. The violence would have continued but for the intervention of a doctor.