THEY BEGGED POLICE FOR HELP - SIX WEEKS LATER JAYDA IS DEAD
Just six weeks ago, Jayda Allen Bonner's relatives implored police to help her.
They feared the 21-year-old woman would be killed by her abusive partner. They knew how dangerous this man was and they knew police were aware of his history, because he had been on the legal radar for decades and he has served time behind bars for brutalising Jayda.
Yet police simply shrugged Jayda's mum and aunt off, saying 'what do you want us to do about it'.
At 2am on Saturday, Jayda was found dead at her apartment complex in Carlton, Melbourne. A man had called 000 saying she was trying to drown herself. Jayda's family have confirmed investigators told them Jayda was beaten to death.
The Homicide Squad is still investigating and her partner is the suspect in her murder.
Jayda is the 55th Australian woman killed this year. Last year we lost 80 women to violence – the year before 106 women were killed.
Jayda - a Yagera woman - was unable to escape this significantly older man. The abuse he subjected her to is some of the worst I have heard about. He bit her from head to toe, she was often covered in deep dark bruising, she weighed only 35kg, she was prevented from spending time with her family and she was manipulated into believing she was not worthy of love, care, compassion and kindness.
She had been with this man since she was 15 or so. At 41, he is significantly older.
It beggars belief that this man was not removed from the home by police. That he was not being monitored. And worse still, it is appalling that when her desperate loved ones reached out they got the cold shoulder from the very same police who are there to protect us.
Jayda's aunt is Kellie Carter-Bell.
Kellie is a women's safety advocate who herself survived extreme domestic violence. Jayda was more than a niece - she was also a daughter to Kellie, who helped raise her.
"The really horrible, horrible thing is that the system's so broken that about six weeks ago, we begged for their help," Kellie says.
"We begged for their help and because we were ringing them and not Jayda, their attitude was: 'Well, what do you want us to do?'
“She was a caring, loving soul.
"She just had a heart of gold, and would do anything for you."
In Australia, we have a sex offender register. When sex offenders are put on the register they are monitored by authorities and face strict restrictions, including not having contact with potential victims.
If a Royal Commission into Femicide goes ahead, it would - as part of its very broad remit - investigate rolling out a domestic violence offender register. This register would operate as the sex offender register does. Every person convicted of domestic violence offences would be placed on the register. They would be monitored by authorities, their movements would be tracked and they would be banned from having contact with anyone who could be a potential victim while potential victims that come into their radar would be warned of their histories.
I know a register of this kind will not end femicide but it will be one of many responses needed to end male violence against women and girls.
The Royal Commission would also examine the countless systemic failures - including police responses - that underpin every violent death of a woman or girl in our country.
Australia's femicide toll is one of the worst in the world. And the political expediency to create change is also one of the worst.
Something must shift - and right now the only way to make change is to have a national truth-telling on femicide.
Please consider sharing the petition with your circle. We need many hundreds of thousands of signatures if we hope to get accountability.
❤️ABOUT THE COUNT❤️
I document all Australian women & children lost to murder, manslaughter, neglect and other unlawful acts regardless of perpetrator gender or relationship to the victim. This means not all women and children killed are lost to domestic violence. They are also killed by people known to them (ie friends) or by strangers. My work includes Australians killed overseas. Every death is documented at AustralianFemicideWatch.org/database