Domestic violence accounts for one in four adult court appearances in New South Wales, police have said, as three women were killed in separate alleged domestic violence incidents within about 10 hours.
Acting NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna described the issue as the force’s “number one issue”, saying prisons were “full” of domestic violence offenders.
The comments followed the deaths of women aged 23, 70 and 90 across the state on Saturday. Three men have been charged with murder, with police alleging the victims and accused knew each other in each case.
Three women killed in separate NSW incidents
A 90-year-old woman was allegedly stabbed to death inside her unit in Bondi, while a 23-year-old woman died after being fatally stabbed at a home in Kooringal, Wagga Wagga.
A 70-year-old woman was also found dead at a property in the Northern Tablelands after police were called to reports of a domestic violence incident.
Mr McKenna said the cases were particularly confronting because none of the women had previously been known to police as domestic violence victims.
“None of them had AVOs in place and none of them were on our radar,” he said.
He urged people who suspected domestic violence to report their concerns, saying the force needed the public to “speak up” so action could be taken.
“We need people. If they do have any information or any inkling of something occurring, please speak up. Tell someone so that we can do something about it,” he said.
Mr McKenna described the weekend as “horrific and tragic”, with the deaths forming part of four separate violent incidents. A young boy also died after an alleged stabbing in the Blue Mountains, while two other children were left fighting for life.
“Four different, disparate incidents took place, all different to each other, yet all with the same tragic outcome. So a really significant weekend for us and for the community at large,” he said.
Calls for a broader response to domestic violence
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane said the deaths could not be treated as “background noise”, adding that women of all ages were still unsafe in their own homes.
Premier Chris Minns said families were dealing with “unimaginable grief” and offered his thoughts to the victims’ relatives, loved ones and communities.
Mr McKenna backed extending custody alerts for domestic violence victim-survivors, which are being trialled across three NSW police districts. The alerts are intended to provide information about an offender’s custody status.
“The more information we can get to victim-survivors out there to keep them safe, that’s always the best thing we can do,” he said.
He said preventing domestic violence required action beyond policing, including education from a young age. Mental health, intergenerational trauma and education could also intersect with the issue, he said, while stressing he was not referring specifically to the weekend’s cases.
“Police come to work every single day trying to prevent domestic violence. We’re taking more action than we’ve ever taken,” Mr McKenna said.
But he added that protecting victim-survivors required a wider community response because police could not tackle the problem alone.
