In The News

It’s a dangerous trend: Domestic violence deaths in Massachusetts triple in three years
Advocates: Feds slash funding for Mass. victims
By James O’Brien
BostonNOW
March 5, 2008

Domestic violence deaths in Massachusetts have nearly tripled since 2005, according to domestic violence organization Jane Doe Inc., with the domestic homicide rate last year the state’s highest since 1992.

“The trends we’re looking at put us out of synch with what’s happening in the rest of the country, where the homicide numbers predominantly are going down,” Toni K. Troop, director of public relations at Jane Doe Inc., said.

There were 55 domestic violence related deaths in Massachusetts in 2007, up from 34 in 2006. There were 19 domestic violence deaths in 2005.

It is a trend aggravated and, in part, fueled by finances, according to Troop.

The federal government slashed 15 percent from domestic violence program funding in the last half decade, she said, and 12 of the commonwealth’s 60 domestic violence shelters were without directors last summer due to heavy financial strain.

“Most of this is federal,” Troop said.

Six people have been killed since Jan. 1. Two more have taken their own lives in connection with incidents of domestic violence. Last week, Malden salon owner Norma Gilles, 41, was found dead, stuffed in her car trunk just blocks from the Salem Street business she operated one door from where her ex-boyfriend, Lesly Cheremond, 48, of Everett, worked. Cheremond is now charged with firstdegree murder in connection with her death.

Sylvester Mitchell, 40, of Dorchester, died on his bedroom floor, bleeding from a stab wound to the heart on May 5, 2007. Mitchell’s wife, Boston Police dispatcher Sharon Fitzpatrick, 35, pleaded not guilty and her lawyer said she used the fatal knife to defend herself against Mitchell, who was allegedly choking her.

Mitchell was one of three such deaths in Boston last year, according to Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. “We see a couple of domestic homicides per year,” Driscoll said.

“In past few years we’ve seen a shift unfortunately in the other direction [in Massachusetts], in terms of homicides,” Troop said. “One thing is clear the victims deserved better.”

Audio
Listen to Toni Troop, director of public relations at Jane Doe Inc., below.
http://www.bostonnow.com/news/local/2008/03/04/domestic-violence-deaths-triple-since-03905