'We need to shine a light on domestic abuse'

In the past two months we have reported on the deaths of two victims of domestic violence.

Both were mothers and both tried to leave their attackers.

Rachel Evans 

On Friday, Carl Harrison, 46, of Hignett Avenue, Parr, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to stabbing his partner Rachel Evans, 46, more than 100 times in March. She died of her horrendous injuries. She has five children.

He was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years before eligible for parole.

This follows another case last month where Adam Brettle, 24, was also jailed for life for the murder of his partner 29-year- old mum-of-two Samantha Gosney.

She was also stabbed to death.

Samantha Gosney

The Star reported in January that an estimated 4,800 victims of domestic abuse in the borough every year, with the majority of victims being women.

This includes physical, psychological, sexual, financial and emotional abuse.

But domestic abuse does not stop with women, men are also victimised as are people in the LGBTQ community.

This week the Star spoke to Councillor Jeanie Bell, cabinet lead member for safer communities and the National Centre for Domestic Violence to see what they think needs to happen to protect victims, their families and help safe lives.

Councillor Jeanie Bell

Cllr Bell said: "Our thoughts go to the family of Miss Evans who have been through such heartache seeing their loved one killed. No family should have to endure the horrors that domestic abuse brings with it.

"It's devastating that this is happening in St Helens. I feel like we have a critical issue in St Helens where domestic violence is being brushed under the carpet by everyone as a society and it needs to stop now.

"I want to shine a light on what is happening, because abuse starts small, but as we have seen it can end in tragic circumstances and people need support to stop that from happening.

"Domestic violence victims have always been concerned about coming forward, what that will mean for them, their children and their lives, and very often that is why they stay.

"We need to work together across agencies to offer the immediate and correct support for victims and their families.

"We need to change our mindsets where we think that this is acceptable because anyone can be a victim of domestic violence.

"When I worked in schools, I was shocked how many young people thought that a partner monitoring their phone was OK.

"That is abuse and that is control. That is how it can start.

"This is learnt behaviour and we as a society need to change that mentality.

"That is why we at the council want to put together a structured approach across a multi agency perspective.

"This is not just a council issue or a police issue, this involves health, probation and housing and we need to work together to tackle this.

"This is a greater problem than many people realise, it goes on often behind closed doors, and it will continue to be an issue unless we together decide we won't accept it."

Police data shown to the People’s Board earlier this year showed there were a total of 2,087 reports of domestic abuse in St Helens during 2017-18.

From April to December 2018 there were 2,210 incidents reported to police, with many more likely going unreported.

Mark Groves

Mark Groves, CEO of the National Centre for Domestic Violence, added: "Domestic violence starts with disrespect. When one person belittles another in a small way, and that is accepted, then that can escalate quite quickly to shouting, pushing, punching, then violence so bad it puts a victim in hospital, then arrests, release and it goes on.

"We need to change how we as a society think about domestic violence. It is never acceptable.

"Years ago people could drink and drive, but then we realised how deadly this can be and as a society we changed our mindset on it and do not accept it in others or ourselves.

"The same needs to happen with domestic violence, lives are ruined by this too and often it goes unreported until it is too late.

"Police are under resourced and do a great job with what they have, but victims also need to know there is much support from other agencies as well.

"We work to get a protection and molestation order in place so victims can make the first steps to rebuilding their lives.

"But the start of someone feeling ready to leave a situation is support which is something we need to work together to offer."