Campaign exposes violence

Allan Titford carried out more than two decades of rape and violence before his wife gained strength from the "Violence: It's Not OK" campaign and exposed him.

An anti-family violence campaign that spurred a woman to leave her husband after more than two decades of rape and violence is seeing an increase in the number of people reporting domestic abuse, but a Whangarei women's refuge is pleased more abuse is coming to light.

Northland farmer Allan Titford was last week jailed for a total of 24 years on 39 convictions - sexual offending against his former wife Susan Cochrane, violence against her and their children, fraud, threatening to kill, arson, perjury and firearms charges.

Ms Cochrane said during the sentencing that had it not been for the "Violence: It's Not OK" campaign by Women's Refuge, police, health boards and other social agencies, they would have continued to suffer the abuse. She later got in contact with Women's Refuge, who gave her the strength to take the case to the courts.

The team leader at Whangarei's Tryphina House Women's Refuge, Jodie Harris, said the national campaign, which includes "Family Violence: It's Not OK in Whangarei", was proving "very, very" effective in getting people to report domestic abuse.

"It's getting the general public to understand that it's not okay and it has led to a definite increase in people coming forward," Ms Harris said.

"Every time somebody sees the 'It's Not OK' sign in the paper, on TV or on the back of a bus or wherever, it sows a little seed. That seed then grows and if that leads to people reporting abuse that's great, it's exposing it."

Tryphina House, which helped Ms Cochrane, has two safe houses in Whangarei and is one of two women's refuges in the city - the other is Te Puna o Te Aroha Maori Women's Refuge - and Ms Harris said the campaign had led to a big increase in demand for its service over the past year.

In the 12 months to the end of June, Tryphena's two safe houses saw 121 residential clients (and their children), who stayed a total of 3637 bed nights, compared to 107 clients and 2724 bed nights in the 12 months to the end of June last year.

Over the same period, community clients (with non-residential needs) rose from 445 women and their children to 481 women and their children, and callouts by police to domestic incidents rose from 382 to 570.

The refuge operates a 24/7 service and calls to and from its phoneline increased from 7271 to 10,994 in the 12 months to June 30, this year.

Ms Harris said it was incredibly brave of Ms Cochrane and her three eldest children - Alyssa, James and Elanda - to waive their right to name suppression and read out victim impact statements in court so Titford could be named.

Women can call 0800 REFUGE if they experience any kind of domestic abuse, or visit www.womensrefuge.org.nz to seek specialised help.