Domestic Violence in all its ugly guises

Image courtesy of Islington Council

The report that three of our female AMs have responded to a survey and admitted they have been raped is shocking to say the least. Even more scary is the fact that when asked to respond on such a serious topic, only 8 out of our 60 AMs bothered to sit down and complete the questionnaire.
As a human being, I have total abhorrence for both sexual abuse and domestic violence. As a police officer, I’ve seen it in the flesh, literally! I’d therefore echo Cathy Owens, Amnesty International's programme director in Wales when she says, “If we are going to break the cycle of violence that sees a third of all women in Wales suffering from some sort of violence, then we need to start by challenging attitudes towards violence against women amongst students and the population at large.
The Welsh Assembly Government should consider a comprehensive campaign aimed at preventing violence - making it far less acceptable on our campuses and in our communities.”
However I’d like to see an addition to that campaign. I’ve also witnessed domestic abuse where a male partner has been the victim of an aggressive female. Victims of such violence find it tremendously difficult to come forward simply because of a misguided historical stereotype, but they certainly do exist.


nick