In The News

Domestic killings on rise in Mass.
By Rick Forster
Sun Chronicle
August 28, 2007

A Norton woman shot and killed by her boyfriend, who later committed suicide, and two of the woman's wounded daughters are just the latest victims of a rising tide of domestic killings in Massachusetts, say domestic violence experts who blame dwindling funding for intervention and counseling programs.

Elizabeth Cann of 384 Reservoir St. was found shot dead in her home Monday, where two of her daughters, Danielle, 15, and Brittany, 12, lay critically hurt from gunshot wounds.
Police said they were shot by Robert McDermott, Cann's on-and-off boyfriend, who later shot himself and threw himself in front of a train in Walpole.

Cann and McDermott were the 37th and 38th domestic violence-related fatalities in Massachusetts in 2007, according to Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., a coalition of anti-sexual abuse and anti-domestic violence groups.

That compares with 34 such deaths for all of 2006 and 19 in 2005.

Five domestic homicide incidents have occurred in the last two weeks, alone, including three in the Brockton area.

Victim advocates said reasons for the increasing violence likely include declining resources to protect battered or threatened partners and the increased difficulty of prosecuting perpetrators.

"Programs who provide advocates for victims have been losing funding for years," said Lauby, including some initiatives that have lost more than half their employees.

"The system absolutely has got to be reexamined," she said.

Anti-domestic violence groups often provide shelter, counseling and legal assistance for victims, who often remain fearful of their violent partners even after they have stopped living together. Loss of counselors and other supports make it more difficult to convince victims to sustain prosecutions and see them through to convictions, Lauby said.

In addition, court rulings have made it virtually impossible to successfully prosecute a domestic violence case without a victim's consent, Lauby said, further adding to the burden of gaining a conviction. As a result, she said, a batterer can remain in the background, threatening a victim until she drops a case.

Kim Thomas, executive director of New Hope Inc., an anti-domestic violence agency that originated in Attleboro, said her non-profit group's staff has been cut by about half over the past several years. Some of New Hope's programs have been cut, but the agency still provides advocates, counseling, shelter and other services to victims of abuse.

"We try to do our best," Thomas said.

The horrific shootings in Norton may have exposed one of many hazards to victims whose spouses or companions show chronic tendencies to violence.

A sudden change in a couple's relationship, such as a cutting off of contact or the threat of court action, can sometimes foreshadow violent outbursts, said Susan Caouette, co-director of Cambridge-based Emerge, a domestic violence counseling agency.

"Often, those can be among the most dangerous times," Caouette said. "You can't allow yourself to lower your guard."

Anti-abuse groups urge women who are at the mercy of a violent partner to take the initiative and contact their local domestic violence agency or hotline. In each case the phone calls are free, confidential and counselors are available 24 hours a day.

Those who believe they are at risk can call the national hotline, SafeLink at 817-785-2020, the statewide hotline at 800-799-SAFE or New Hope's crisis line at 800-323-4673.