In The News

Victims’ advocate says deaths can be prevented
By Marie Szaniszlo | Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Bay State’s eight suspected domestic violence deaths since Jan. 1 are double the number reported by this time last year, part of a disturbing three-year trend that victims’ advocates are calling a statewide crisis.

“This is a wake-up call for everyone. These homicides can be prevented,” said Toni Troop, spokeswoman for Jane Doe Inc., a coalition of victims’ advocacy groups. “We need to intervene now.”

Friday’s grisly New Bedford murder-suicide came in the wake of the arrest of a Malden man in the murder of his ex-girlfriend, hairdresser Norma Dorce Gilles, who had vanished two weeks ago. Suspect Lesly Cheremond was scheduled to go on trial April 29 for allegedly assaulting Gilles.

The New Bedford murder was the sixth incident of suspected domestic violence homicide in Massachusetts since Jan. 1, said Toni Troop, spokeswoman for domestic violence organization Jane Doe Inc. In at least five of those cases, the victim either had already left or was trying to leave, her abuser, Troop said.

The number of domestic-violence-related deaths over the past three years has risen 289 percent, from 19 in 2005 to 34 in 2006 and 55 last year. Two of the eight deaths this year were suicides committed after a domestic-violence homicide.

Troop said an advocacy group could have helped the victims develop a safety plan and determine whether they were at grave enough risk to move to a secure shelter - actions that could have saved their lives.

“In the same way that most people today realize they have a moral obligation not to let someone they know drink and drive, people need to take responsibility and get involved,” Troop said. “The burden should not be on the victim alone.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1077145