Irish Examiner view: Appalling litany of violence

Johnny Depp lost his libel case against the Sun newspaper over an article which labelled him a wife-beater. 

American actor Johnny Depp has lost his three-week libel battle with a British tabloid newspaper. Depp sued The Sun, a News Group Newspaper, which had called him a “wife-beater”. The court heard evidence from Depp, 57 and his former wife Amber Heard, 34, about their tempestuous marriage, accusations of affairs, furious rows and Depp's battle with drink and drugs. The scenario, even if this instance it has an added layer of voyeurism, is all too familiar.

As all too many Irish people know, drink or drug abuse can turn a usually calm, sensible, loving person into a volatile monster determined to hurt those closest to them. Though this process is all too common its consequences are not at any time tolerable. As pandemic lockdowns continue and as its economic consequences bite deeper and deeper, and as home drinking replaces visits to off-limits pubs, there is a possibility that domestic violence might become real for all too many families.

Last year, according to Women's Aid, there were 19,258 disclosures of domestic violence against women, 12,742 incidents of emotional abuse, 3,873 incidents of physical abuse and 2,034 incidents of financial abuse. In the same year, 609 incidents of sexual abuse were disclosed to the agency, including 288 rapes.