Violence against women doesnt take a Christmas holiday but it should and must be permanent

People ask me why i get so worked up about the increasing prevalence of violence in New Zealand and the most heinous of acts one human can commit against another - the taking of a life. And to all my male whanau - this is a sobering message for all of us. We are taking the lives of our mums, our sisters, our wives, our aunties and our nannies - we are robbing our children of the most important thing they can have in life - their mums. When i read through the data i was reminded by a murder a long time ago that i was called as a witness in the trial. A man from Lower Hutt had murdered his wife. I was young, it was my first job and for no other reason than i had reviewed a special benefit application in my role as a case manager. It would have been about 25 yeas ago. For me the data is as confronting today as it was back then. And nothing has changed.

Christie, Cissy. Joanne. Jasmine. Marie. Blessie. Chozyn. Alicia. Verity. Nicole. Bella. Azalia. Crystal. Michelle. Noelene. Bridget. Gurpreet.

These are just some of the names of Kiwi women who should still be alive.

These are just some of the names that made headlines here – and around the world – when their lives were cruelly and violently ended, and mostly at the hands of men.

But these names are only the tip of the iceberg – highlighting only the worst of the worst cases of abuse, assault, revenge, deadly jealously, vile rage and the entitlement of some men to mete out violence and retribution at will.

Since January 2011 there have been 695 deaths in New Zealand categorised by police as homicides.

A homicide is the killing of one person by another.

In New Zealand charges that can arise from a homicide include murder and manslaughter and the overlapping offences of infanticide and driving offences causing death.

Data provided to the Herald by the police under the Official Information Act shows that of the homicides in the last decade, 211 of the victims were female.

Of those, 158 were adults aged 18 and over.

Twenty-two of the women were killed in driving or transport-related incidents including quad bike and boating incidents.

The rest died after violent or abusive incidents – and more than half were killed by a partner or family member.

Four of the women were pregnant when they were beaten or stabbed to death.

Others were murdered while their horrified children watched on close by.

Police charged 20 partners – husbands, boyfriends or girlfriend – and 21 ex or estranged partners with murder or manslaughter.

Just three women were killed in attacks by random strangers and in each case they were out in broad daylight walking or exercising.

The list provided by police only includes homicide cases where someone has been charged.

There are other cases where women have been killed by partners or exes who also died.

For example, in January 2020 Sherine Nath, 32 was dead found at her Papatoetoe home.

Her young son was critically injured but survived.

Her husband Riki Nath, 34, was also found dead and is believed to have been responsible for the fatal incident.

In 2013 Glenys Stanton and her boyfriend Trevor Waite were shot dead at his South Auckland home.

Three days their killer John Mowatt – a man Stanton had previously spent time with – took his own life.

And on March 10 this year police believe Viliami Latu killed the mother of his four children Toakase Finau before ending his own life.

Latu had a long history of violence towards Finau and when they died was facing a raft of charges including assaulting her and breaching his bail conditions.

Finau had been granted a protection order against Latu but he ignored it completely – as he had with earlier police safety orders.

New Zealand has the highest rate of intimate partner violence against women in the OECD.

However, only about 20 per cent of incidents are ever reported so what we know from data collected by authorities is only a small glimpse into an ever-increasing and extremely serious problem.

Here, one in three women – 35 per cent – have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

When psychological and/or emotional abuse is included, that figure increases to 55 per cent of women.

While men can also be the victim of intimate partner violence, the majority of the abuse perpetrated is against women.

In most of the cases where women were killed someone was put before the courts charged with murder or manslaughter.

And in most cases, they pleaded guilty or were convicted after a jury trial.

A few killers were found not guilty of a murder charge by reason of insanity and while they were not criminally culpable there is no question that they were responsible for the death.

In those cases, the killers were detained indefinitely as special patients to forensic psychiatric units.

In one case – the death of Auckland woman Cissy Chen – her partner was charged with murder but walked free after a jury found him not guilty.

Police said they would not reinvestigate Chen's death and were not looking for anyone else in connection with the crime.

Family or domestic violence is an umbrella term that includes: intimate partner physical and sexual violence, child abuse and neglect, sibling abuse, parental abuse, elder abuse, and violence against disabled people.

If you or someone you know is being abused in any way – please reach out for help. A list of help services and information can be found at the bottom of this story.

If you are being harmed, remember, it is never your fault.

Today the Herald remembers and pays tribute to all of the women killed in New Zealand in violent and murderous incidents in the last decade.

DO YOU NEED HELP?

If you're in danger now:

Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours of friends to ring for you.

? Run outside and head for where there are other people.

? Scream for help so that your neighbours can hear you.

? Take the children with you.

? Don't stop to get anything else.

? If you are being abused, remember it's not your fault. Violence is never okay

Where to go for help or more information:

Shine, free national helpline 9am- 11pm every day - 0508 744 633 www.2shine.org.nz

? Women's Refuge: Free national crisis line operates 24/7 - 0800 refuge or 0800 733 843 www.womensrefuge.org.nz

? Shakti: Providing specialist cultural services for African, Asian and middle eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800 742 584

? It's Not Ok: Information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz

I want to thank Newstalk ZB for this powerful article - the full article can be read here: https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/decade-of-violent-death-the-158-kiwi-women-killed-in-last-10-years/?fbclid=IwAR149i_mXAsLBWWrDcGw05JiN1QutHVHx8sGa_GCqWHQA7iLKpB4dZaVWUQ