A new report into family violence shows almost half of all victims experience some form of brain injury. And nearly one in three of the victims is a child.
It was an emotional Rosie Batty who listened to harrowing stories of lives forever changed by violent assaults in the home. The former Australian of the Year, whose son Luke was killed by his father, says the new tales she hears continue to shock her. She said: “The extent of what victims of family violence have to experience continues to shock. There are so many more layers of complexity and horror."
Rebecca Sciroli was one such victim. When she was 25 years old, her stepfather hit her on the back of the head with a hammer. “I would have been seven months in hospital approximately, because I had to learn first to breathe, to eat, to walk ... everything all over again,” Ms Sciroli said.
Ms Batty and Ms Sciroli were in attendance as Brain Injury Australia released a new report that finds 40 per cent of family-violence victims suffer brain injuries. Ms Batty says her son would have been another if he had survived. “If Luke had lived, he would have had a significant brain injury, because he was hit over the head with a cricket bat,” said Ms Batty.
The report has found almost one in three family-violence victims admitted to hospital over the past decade was a child under age 15. Brain Injury Australia chief executive Nick Rushworth says one-quarter of them sustained brain injuries. Mr Rushworth said: "We've mined and mapped the tip of the iceberg. I still think there are many, many thousands of women and children in the community living with brain injuries that go unknown, undetected, undiagnosed and untreated."
Angela Barker was 16 years old when her ex-boyfriend slammed her skull against a steel park bench and stomped her face into the ground. She says it is just not right. “It's so wrong. What gives anyone the right to mess someone up like me or anyone else?” asked Ms Barker.
It is not just the victims with brain injuries, though -- the study also links brain injury to those committing the violence.
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