A 60 year old East Lismore woman who died last August as a result of Domestic Violence (DV), is one of 12 who will be honoured at a DV Candelight Vigil to be held next Wednesday, May 5.

Organised by the Lismore Women’s Health Centre, the Vigil is part of national Domestic Violence Prevention month – and remembers women and children who have lost their lives to domestic and family violence.

Lismore Women’s Health Centre intake information referral worker Krsna Mayshack-Mendero said the ‘Counting Dead Women Australia’ Facebook site reported that nationally, 12 women have died as a result of DV in 2021 and 40 women have died since May 2020.

“The names of the 12 women and one baby will be read out at the Vigil and candles will be placed in their honour,” Krsna said.

“We will also have a song and a one minute silence.”

Krsna invites members of the community to come and bring a candle or flowers to honour someone if they want to.

“People at home can also take a picture of a candle and post it on social media as part of a remembering and honouring women who have died in the context of DV.”

The DV Candlelight Vigil will be held at Lismore Transit Centre, from 5.30pm to 6.30pm on Wednesday, May 5.



Lismore Women's Health Centre staff invite you to bring a candle to the vigil.

DV and Covid

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, Google reported a 75% increase in internet searches relating to support for domestic violence. 

Women's Safety NSW chief executive Hayley Foster said 2020 will be remembered as the worst year for domestic violence that any of us who are in the sector now have ever experienced. 

“There have been just so many more strangulation cases, so many threats to kill, so many more serious head injuries and sexual assaults have been going through the roof,” she said.

“The coronavirus restrictions combined with unemployment and financial stress linked to the pandemic have caused domestic violence cases to spike across the country with states and territories reporting increases in the number and severity of DV cases.”

Statistics

23.9% of Australian women have been domestic violence victims in their lifetimes. During the Covid 19 pandemic, there has been a 11% increase in calls to 1800 RESPECT - a national domestic violence helpline. 

A survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology revealed almost 10% of Australian women in a relationship had experienced domestic violence during the corona crisis. 50% of women said the abuse had become more frequent or severe since the start of the pandemic. 

According to a survey conducted by Monash University, over 50% of DV workers have reported an increase in reports and severity of DV since the start of the pandemic.

A 7% increase of sexual assault and harrassment was reported compared with the previous year according to the state crime statistics.

Other States

In Queensland, 81% of DV services reported an escalation of controlling behaviour and manipulation and 49% reported an escalation of perpetrators using Covid-19 as a reason for abuse.

In South Australia police reported a 12% increase in domestic and family related assaults, sexual assaults compared with the same time last year.

Over in Western Australia, domestic violence related assault jumped 10.6% while DV related threatening behaviour spiked by 15.3%. 

Illawarra Women’s Health Centre also faced unprecedented demand for support from women in DV situations with a 189% increase from January to August 2020, compared to the previous year and phone calls spiked 55% in the same period.

Read more news: Alleged domestic violence sees Lismore woman arrested