Rising violence

By Sarah Schwager
A VIOLENT domestic dispute in Hampton Park on Sunday has highlighted the high number of family violence incidents in Casey, especially over the Christmas period.
Cranbourne and Endeavour Hills police attended the incident at about 11.30pm after a man allegedly threatened his girlfriend with a knife.
Victoria Police statistics released on 20 December last year showed a spike in the number of incidents of family violence reports during the Christmas and new year period.
Statewide Steering Committee to Reduce Family Violence co-chairman Leigh Gassner said police were concerned by the statistics which showed a dramatic rise in recorded family violence incident reports to police in December and January.
“There is still a widespread notion throughout society that family violence is somehow less serious than other types of violence and should be resolved within the privacy of the home,” he said.
“This simply cannot be the case any more. We need to raise awareness across the community that family violence is a crime and should not be tolerated at any time of year, especially at Christmas.”
Cora Campbell, crisis services manager at WAYSS Ltd Domestic Violence Crisis Service based in Dandenong said WAYSS had more than 2000 contacts with victims of family violence during 2005.
“Family violence permeates all of our programs,” Ms Campbell said.
“It enters into all areas of our support services.”
She said Casey had always been a difficult area in terms of domestic violence because it was such a growth area.
She said a new system, in which police are required to send a formal referral to the agency when they attend an incident of family violence and have consent from the victim, had become imperative in Casey.
Ms Campbell said since the system had been introduced, the number of police referrals had increased while incidents of domestic violence had stayed much the same.
In April last year official police figures showed that Cranbourne was the domestic violence capital of Casey with 461 family incidents reported in 2003-2004.
In the rest of Casey, 66 police reports were made in Hallam, 96 in Narre Warren North, 138 in Narre Warren in 161 in Endeavour Hills.
VicHealth (Victoria’s Health Promotion Agency) undertook a study in 2003 which revealed family violence was responsible for more premature death and ill-health in Victorian women under the age of 45 than any other preventable risk factor, including high blood pressure, obesity and smoking.
• An 18-year-old man has been charged with one count of threatening to kill. He has been remanded to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 4 February.
He was arrested after police attended a home in Chiswick Court, Hampton Park, at about 11.30pm on Sunday.
He was taken to Dandenong Hospital for treatment and may face surgery for his self inflicted wounds to his abdomen.