ALMOST 9 in 10 women murdered in Ireland were killed by a man known to them, according to a new report from Women's Aid.
The charity is calling on the Irish authorities to introduce a formal review of domestic killings in a bid to help protect women and children and save countless lives.
It follows the publication of its Femicide Watch 2018 report, which also found over half of female murder victims in Ireland were killed by their current or former boyfriend, partner or husband, in resolved criminal cases. The research also revealed that 62 per cent of women killed since records began in 1996 were murdered in their own homes.
In that time 225 women have died violently at an average rate of 10 women per year, while 16 children have died alongside their mothers. Women's Aid is warning that, until these reviews take place, Ireland will continue to fail high-risk victims of domestic violence, leaving them vulnerable to escalating abuse and, in extreme cases, homicide.
Dr. Jane Monckton Smith, an expert on domestic homicides, is also calling for a change to the way we talk about and deal with abuse and fatal violence by intimate partners.
"I've met a lot of wife killers and murder is never a 'crime of passion'. These murders are not about love, they're about entitlement to a relationship, and a need to control that relationship. Murder is the ultimate expression of control," she said.
"The most repeated phrase uttered by these killers is 'if I can't have you no-one can'. If we keep explaining these murders away as spontaneous crimes without looking into the trends, patterns, and histories, we will remain in denial. But more importantly, we will be letting down both past and future victims - we just don't know their names yet."
Margaret Martin, Director of Women's Aid said:
"When women call Women's Aid and tell us that they are afraid for their lives, we believe them. We know just how dangerous domestic violence can be."
"Last year over 21,000 contacts were made with Women's Aid including which 19,385 disclosures of abuse against women and 3,552 disclosures of child abuse. "
"We heard 622 disclosures where a man has told a woman he will kill her, the children, a family member or himself. 756 disclosures where a man had choked, smothered, beaten or threatened to beat his partner with a weapon. 531 disclosures of stalking -both online and in person - and 217 reports of assault during pregnancy."
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