Police have been called to thousands of domestic violence incidents in the region. Photo / File
More heinous, more sick, and more twisted.
That's how Rotorua family lawyer and refuge chairwoman Mihi James describes the drug-fuelled and increasingly "blatant" abuse of women in Rotorua, some beaten in broad daylight.
It comes as data shows police were called every 35 minutes on average to family violence in the Bay of Plenty in the last five years.
Official Information Act figures from police revealed there were 68,150 domestic violence callouts in the region between January 2017 and August last year.
In Rotorua, the numbers climbed over this time.
There were 18,837 callouts, with the worst year being 2020 when police were called 4446 times.
James, legal director for Mihi James Legal and chairwoman of the Waiariki Women's Refuge board, said the violence was becoming "more blatant".
On top of that, the many support services available were inundated and there were long waiting lists for victims and perpetrators to get help.
"Historically, people hid that behind closed doors but offenders now are becoming a lot more bold and blatant ... these guys don't care, they're doing it anywhere, anytime."
"They're beating their partners up in the street in broad daylight."
James said the biggest contributor to this was drugs, which changed the level of violence.
"They're more heinous, they're more sick, they're more twisted. They're entirely irrational, there's no reasoning with them ... they're completely out of control with no remorse and no self-control."
She said abusers high on meth had "no issue" beating up victims in front of everyone.
James recently had a woman come in who was beaten unconscious by her partner in the street. The offender got someone who lived in the area to pick her up out of the gutter.
"The neighbour came out, took her into their house, wiped her down, but never called the police."
She said she did not want to see a culture forming where people ignored domestic violence as it would make room for more blatant violence.
The majority of the women she saw did not call the police, relying on others calling for help, she said.
A common thing she heard from women was that their neighbours got used to hearing the fighting and beatings and stopped calling the police.
In her view, "significant delays" in police showing up deterred people from calling and put victims off taking further action as things calmed down by the time enforcement arrived.
In addition, in her experience, the many support services available were inundated and capacity was falling short.
"Even the offenders, at one stage they're genuinely wanting help, they've hit an all-time low and keen to do the services and programmes," she said.
She said it could be months before people could get into a particular programme they needed.
"You've got to catch them when they're motivated to change."
She said she had five Without-Notice Protection Order applications when she arrived at the office after the holidays.
"Five, for my first day back is ridiculous ... You'd be lucky to get that in a month."
The majority of cases she saw of women seeking protection orders involved intimate partner relationships.
James said there were many factors that contributed to the rise in violence in the community: income, job loss, living costs, meth, and the housing crisis.
"We have a lot more struggling families and a lot more homelessness [in Rotorua]."
In her view, the city had a "stigma" from a large homeless population, which was putting people who may benefit the community off moving to Rotorua.
Bay of Plenty District youth, community and family harm manager Inspector Phil Gillbanks said police saw more incidents where children and youth lashed out against parents or caregivers.
This was often due to the young people suffering from substance trauma relating to parents' long-standing use of meth, he said.
Methamphetamine was the greatest contributor to harm across the region, alongside mental health, gambling, alcohol and other drug abuse.
He said there was also an increase in controlling and coercive behaviour that was often a result of jealousy manifested through the many online platforms.
He said population growth and two years with periods of Covid restrictions put "considerable" strain on some families.
Gillbanks said domestic violence was typically under reported. A rise in reports could reflect a number of things, including an increased willingness by victims, whānau and witnesses.
Tauranga Living Without Violence practice leader Glynette Gainfort did not believe there was more family violence, just more reporting.
"The numbers are awful ... there's always been this family violence, it was just very much a culture of closed doors."
She said the campaigns, services and publicity had been useful.
"More people are saying 'I don't have to live like this' ... neighbours are saying 'this isn't alright.'"
"It's okay to [report violence] or it's expected."
She said child abuse was heavily linked to family violence in the home and social media helped raise awareness of the number of children being "battered and killed".
Gainfort said there was "not nearly enough" support as specialist agencies were "under the pump".
"It's scary."
She said more men than she'd seen in her six years at the service were contacting it to get help for their behaviour.
She said perpetrators would tell them about their "horrific" childhoods.
Gainfort said from her perspective, there were delays in police response to domestic violence due to the quantity of issues police were dealing with, including the pandemic.
"Our family violence police team here are often deployed to do Covid and border stuff, that means the family violence stuff can't be dealt with."
"We absolutely need more services, we need more police, we just need more of everything to actually deal with this.
"All the korero is out there, but there's not enough resourcing for the follow-through."
She said things like meth and alcohol may fuel the violence, but were not the root cause, which she believed was linked to things like gendered roles and colonisation.
Bay of Plenty District Prevention manager Inspector Steve Bullock said there was an increase in calls and some of the Family Harm team staff had been tasked to work on the national police Covid-19 response.
He said calls were prioritised in terms of risk and those at greater risk were attended as soon as possible.
Lower risk calls were attended later, sometimes the next day, he said.
He said the region invested in family harm resourcing over the past few years by creating prevention teams, part of a coordinated multi-agency approach.
Gillbanks said five joint agency Family Harm Teams across the region worked "tirelessly" and could intervene and make sure people were safe when called to events.
He said not all family harm situations involved violence or injuries, and police attendance and response varied.
Sometimes officers needed to remove someone being physically aggressive or abusive, other times they spend time talking to people, making sure they have appropriate referrals to other agencies, he said.
He said their focus was making sure everyone involved was safe and well.
If you're in danger NOW:
• Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours or friends to ring for you
• Run outside and head for where there are other people
• Scream for help so your neighbours can hear you
• Take the children with you
• Don't stop to get anything else
• If you are being abused, remember it's not your fault. Violence is never okay.
Where to go for help or more information:
• Women's Refuge: Free national crisis line operates 24/7 - 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843 www.womensrefuge.org.nz
• Shine, free national helpline 9am- 11pm every day - 0508 744 633 www.2shine.org.nz
• It's Not Ok: Information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz
• Shakti: Providing specialist cultural services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800 742 584
• Ministry of Justice: www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice/domestic-violence
• National Network of Stopping Violence: www.nnsvs.org.nz
• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men's violence towards women, focusing this year on sexual violence and the issue of consent. www.whiteribbon.org.nz
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