Sunshine Magistrates Court heard a staggering 3041 applications for family violence intervention orders last year.
That’s more than four times the 680 applications for personal safety intervention orders in non-domestic situations.
Figures obtained by Star Weekly show that 2671 new family violence intervention orders were applied for last year.
The other 370 heard by the court were renewals of existing applications.
In October alone, the court heard 313 domestic violence applications, against just 77 personal safety intervention applications in the same month.
Brimbank-Melton Community Legal Centre (BMCLC) has helped 200 people in Brimbank and Melton with domestic violence issues in the past year and represented 60 in court for intervention orders.
BMCLC senior community lawyer Annika Dimitrijevich said intervention orders could sometimes be ineffective, resulting in deaths at the hands of violent partners.
“For example, our client Sophie and her child experienced violence at the hands of Sophie’s ex-partner,” she said.
“Through the court process, police failed to include the child on Sophie’s intervention order, meaning there was nothing stopping the ex-partner having contact with the child.
“This concerned Sophie, as her ex-partner had been violent in front of the child, and would often use the child to control and intimidate her. At this point, the court support worker referred Sophie [to us] and we made an urgent application to the court to protect the child.”
In April last year, mother of four Fiona Warzywoda was stabbed to death only hours after leaving Sunshine Magistrates Court in relation to an intervention order.
The Melton West woman was allegedly stabbed with a fishing knife by her partner of 18 years, Craig McDermott, in broad daylight in a busy Sunshine shopping strip.
McDermott has been ordered to stand trial on October 19 and to appear at a directions hearing on April 23, when presiding Supreme Court judge Justice Lex Lasry expects issues in the case to be clearer.
