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This is Roselyn Staggard. She's a proud and much loved family matriarch. She's a mother, a grandmother, a beautiful spirit, the rock her family relies on, she's a valued member of our community. She's also the latest Australian woman lost to an act of alleged domestic violence.
At 67 years old, Roselyn had every reason to believe she would grow into her old age surrounded by those she loves. On Wednesday, she was murdered in her home at Caversham in Western Australia. Police have charged her son, a man media reported as having an ice addiction.
Roselyn is the 34th Australian woman killed in 2020. Seventeen children and 76 men have also been killed this year. It must be noted that while all of these victims have died as a result of murder or manslaughter, not all the deaths are due to domestic violence.
Many have been killed by friends, neighbours, associates and strangers. That said, almost all the women killed this year were victims of domestic violence and almost all the alleged killers are male regardless of the victims' gender.
When I look at the photos of Roselyn I cannot help but think about the belief that violence - particularly gendered and domestic violence - will take generations to end. Roselyn is of an older generation raised when DV was less spoken about or acknowledged as a public problem.
We speak more about DV today than we did 67 years ago, but really not a lot has changed in that time. We have barely moved forward over the past six or seven decades.
The other day Our Watch tweeted: The attitudes and behaviours that lead to sexual assault and violence against women do not exist in a vacuum â they arise from systems, practices, and social norms that have been with us for generations, and will take generations to change.
However, the reality is we cannot wait generations for violence to end because the longer we wait the more Australians will die.
The answer to ending violence immediately lies with perpetrators. They are the ones who control their behaviour and they are the ones who can save, not destroy lives. If only they would take responsibility, women like Roselyn would still be alive.
RIP ROSELYN STAGGARD!
RIP ROSELYN STAGGARD!
