Category: Domestic Violence

A woman who was abused by her police officer ex-husband is speaking out in the hope that he will be kept behind bars for his full sentence.

Twelve months ago, Stella Magnisalis stood outside the South Australian District Court and spoke about the five years of abuse she suffered at the hands of Matthew Alan Thomson.

Thomson, 43, was sentenced in June last year to two years and three months’ jail after pleading guilty to six counts of assault against his ex-wife between April 2013 and February 2018.

Thomson was with South Australia Police for about 12 years until he resigned in 2017.

Stella Magnisalis says she has struggled to navigate government bureaucracies as she attempted to find out when her ex-husband could be released after his non-parole period expires.

Ms Magnisalis said she also knew other women who had been victims of Thomson, and she feared the former police officer, who had a child with another woman just before he was sentenced, would offend again.

Ms Magnisalis said when she had initially attempted to tell police about the abuse, she, like many victims, had not received the help she needed.

The Parole Board expects to interview the man after October as part of his parole application.

Source: Stella Magnisalis fights to have ex-policeman husband kept behind bars – ABC News

A 36-year-old Queensland police officer has been granted bail after being charged with a series of offences ranging over several years.

Detective Senior Constable John Paul Daniel McDonnell was initially charged with one count of stalking (domestic violence offence) in March, allegedly while he was off duty.

Following a further investigation, he was arrested on a slew of additional offences yesterday, including three counts of misconduct in public office, two counts of common assault, two counts of computer hacking and misuse, one count of unlawful stalking and one count of dangerous conduct with a weapon.

The 36-year-old was also charged with one count of enter dwelling and commit (domestic violence offence), one count of deprivation of liberty, one count of distributing intimate images and two counts of distributing prohibited visual recordings.

Magistrate Julian Noud said there was “a concerning allegation” that the senior constable held his police-issued firearm to his temple and threatened his life in front of one woman.

He said the officer was allegedly “verbally aggressive” towards one woman and was alleged to have “committed serious violence”, including climbing on top of her, pinning her down and restraining her movements.

He was accused of distributing an intimate image of a former partner without her consent and sending false CrimeStoppers reports in circumstances where police officers were likely to apply for search warrants.

The court heard it was also alleged that the senior constable had made unlawful recordings of court proceedings.

The ABC understands Senior Constable McDonnell’s family has strong ties to the Queensland police service, with some of his family members having served in high-ranking positions.

The matter has been adjourned until next month.

Source: Qld police officer accused of ‘serious violence’ against woman granted bail – ABC News

Recent (May 2026) research from the law department at RMIT University based in Melbourne, Australia makes for interesting reading. Beyond the Charge: Understanding support needs of women prosecuted for driving offences is authored by Lisanne Adam and Elena Pappas.

The report presents a comprehensive analysis of 104 de-identified case files from a local law centre (Law and Advocacy Centre for Women (‘LACW’), all involving at least one driving offence charge.

Across the files analysed, nearly half of the women reported current or historical family violence. In some cases, this violence directly contributed to alleged offending behaviour, including coercion to drive while unlicensed, fleeing unsafe homes, or relying on a vehicle as emergency accommodation.

Source: Women’s driving offences often linked to domestic abuse – Russell Webster

The joy that pets bring into our lives is a feeling familiar to many. At the end of that difficult day at work, when nothing seems to go right, returning to our families, our kids and our pets, can be a shining light.

For Monique Dam, chief executive of Lucy’s Project, that shining light is a dog named Putty. “If I’ve had an especially hard day at work, I’ll go to my dog Putty, play with him, cuddle him, and it really grounds me in the reason why we do this work,” she says.

For many people experiencing domestic and family violence, that same bond is precisely why they cannot leave – because the service that might help them won’t take their animal too.

Closing the gap between those two facts is the work of Lucy’s Project, a small national charity founded 13 years ago by Anna Ludvik.

Dam cites research finding that 73 per cent of Australian households live with animals, a figure that is higher still for families with children. And the pet is seldom a side issue: Lucy’s Project points to a 2020 Domestic Violence NSW report in which 86 per cent of frontline domestic violence and community workers reported clients raising concerns about their animals or disclosing that they had been harmed, and 48 per cent said a client had delayed leaving a perpetrator by more than a year for fear the animal would be hurt. “It’s very likely the clients people are working with will have animals as members of their family,” Dam says.

Source: Beyond property: domestic violence, animal cruelty, and the law – Law Society Journal

My research focused on spousal financial abuse, but it soon became clear it was deeply entangled with emotional, physical, and sexual violence. These overlapping forms of violence help enforce fear, dependence, and silence.

Across these stories, a pattern emerged: a deep reluctance to contact the police.

Most . . . did not see the police as a source of safety.

Coming from a post-colonial country where the policing system was originally designed to serve the British Empire rather than protect ordinary people, many carried a deep-seated fear and mistrust of law enforcement. This was shaped by experiences of policing culture in Bangladesh, where abuse of power and impunity are common.

Several women described being repeatedly warned by their husbands that involving police would lead to deportation or removal of the children.

Another woman, Roji, worried that because her husband spoke fluent English and she didn’t, he would be able to convince the police while she would struggle to even understand what was being said.

Migrant women often face enormous emotional, financial, social, and cultural barriers even after contacting police. Many described becoming immediately overwhelmed by guilt and uncertainty after seeking help.

Under pressure from family and community members, and frightened by the prospect of navigating Australia’s legal and welfare systems alone, many withdrew complaints.

Women described how involving police often leads to gossip and stigma.

Most women who actually sought help described feeling lost trying to navigate the system. Many described feeling rushed interacting with authorities, unfamiliar legal language, and the absence of culturally sensitive communication.

However, not all participants experienced police interactions negatively. Faiza described how her ex-husband falsely accused her of being violent towards him after calling the police, tearing his own shirt, and banging his forehead against a wall. Arrested and taken to the police station, she felt bewildered. But a female police officer calmly guided her through the process.

It’s also important to recognise many migrant women hesitate to disclose abuse because they fear feeding racist stereotypes.

Source: ‘I had no idea people in Australia call police if anyone is beaten’: why many abused migrant women don’t involve police

Exclusive new research . . . found that nearly half of Australian women say financial pressure delayed their decision to separate.

More than half felt financially dependent on their partner before leaving.

To me, this was a shocking revelation.

It feels like a statistic from a bygone era. Women trapped in unhappy or unhealthy relationships because they simply can’t afford to leave.

It’s a dynamic we associate with our grandmothers’ generation, not modern women who work, own property, raise children and supposedly have more independence than ever before.

[Ed: An obvious reality not sufficiently discussed.]

Source: Housing crisis: The trap keeping women in bad marriages.

The family law system should be examined as part of a royal commission into domestic violence, crossbench MPs have urged, as experts warn that survivors face crushing legal bills and perpetrators are weaponising proceedings.

Teal independents Zali Steggall and Monique Ryan want Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to set up a national inquiry into the family violence crisis amid calls for an urgent injection of funds for legal assistance services.

A royal commission could “cross-check what federal and state governments are doing across all these systems, from legal aid, to crisis accommodation, to all of the areas that we know impact domestic violence”, Steggall said.

The domestic violence prevention sector is split on whether a royal commission would be useful or delay action and divert funding from crucial services.

Since 2022, the government has allocated more than $4.4 billion to the national plan to end violence against women and children.

National Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin last month said: “We don’t need more reviews” but “more action”. Independent MP Allegra Spender does not support a royal commission.

[O]ne option the government might consider was the feasibility of a loan scheme similar to HECS that could be “rolled out to cater for that middle tier of the population” that did not qualify for legal aid in family law cases.

National Legal Aid executive director Yvette D’Ath, a former Queensland attorney-general and justice minister, did not believe a royal commission was necessary because “a lot of the answers are there” as a result of previous inquiries.

She said a national approach was required in the “prevention and early intervention space”, alongside an increase in funding for legal assistance services.

Source: Teal MPs push for domestic violence royal commission to examine family law system