Updated
The violent death of a woman in Melbourne last month has highlighted systemic flaws in the use of restraining orders designed to protect women from abuse.
Last month, around the same time Australians were horrified by the murder of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher, another woman was also killed in the city.
But her death went largely unnoticed.
Sargun Ragi, 23, appeared in court shortly before her death to extend a restraining order against her husband, Avjit Singh.
She was initially too scared to be in the same courtroom as him.
Magistrate John O'Callaghan expressed his concern at the time.
"I'm a bit concerned that she's not in court. I mean, I can understand people being scared of someone, but we've got police protection here," he said.
Mr Singh had been banned from any contact with his wife but had breached the restraining order eight times in three weeks.
Ms Ragi told the court her husband was pursuing her relentlessly.
"He called me from locked calls," she said.
"He spoke to me and he was telling me to 'take your case back'.
I'm a bit concerned that she's not in court. I mean I can understand people being scared of someone but we've got police protection here.
"He was speaking to me but I was not speaking to him.
"And he has been giving my number to his friend and his friend was also calling me.
"After that... he hacked my Facebook password and Yahoo mail so I didn't control it in my Facebook account."
Ms Ragi and Mr Singh had an arranged marriage, but a year later things turned sour and she was being held prisoner.
Court documents allege Ms Ragi was locked away in the couple's unit in Melbourne's inner-north without food or a phone for a week, at the mercy of her violent husband.
She managed to escape but only when a landlord came to visit.
Police then sought to protect her with a restraining order.
"The AFM (Sargun Ragi) is in fear for her life and believes her husband will kill her. Police have grave concerns for the welfare of the AFM and believe she is vulnerable and in imminent danger," Constable Jessica Egan wrote in the police application.
"If she refuses to have sex with him, he beats her. The respondent (Avjit Singh) has showed controlling behaviours and is believed to have committed serious sexual assault."
Ten days after Ms Ragi spoke in court, her body was pulled from a house fire in the Melbourne suburb of Kew.
She had been repeatedly stabbed.
Mr Singh was also pulled from the blaze and died later in hospital.
Six weeks before she was murdered, Ms Ragi had told police her husband had committed a serious sexual assault.
Mr Singh was arrested and released on bail.
Domestic homicides
Ms Ragi's murder is just one of about 70 domestic homicides that happen around the country every year.
Thirty per cent of all murders stem from domestic violence, and in some states those numbers are on the rise.
In Western Australia, the number of domestic homicides has doubled in the past 12 months.
And last year there were more than 11,000 breaches of domestic violence orders in New South Wales alone.
Sahar Ghaly knows all too well the limitations of court orders.
She lives in a mini fortress, hoping security cameras provided by the Victims of Crime Association can give her peace of mind.
One day he came back and he realised that the clothes weren't folded, the children were quite young and I didn't fold them in his timeframe, so he dragged me down the corridor, he kicked me and I lost a few teeth.
"I was married at 24, it was an arranged marriage, and since I got married the violence began - physical, sexual, financial, all sorts of violence," she said.
"One day he came back and he realised that the clothes weren't folded, the children were quite young and I didn't fold them in his timeframe, so he dragged me down the corridor, he kicked me and I lost a few teeth.
"He just kicked my face in because he thought it would be funny to have less teeth."
Ms Ghaly's ex-husband has breached his restraining order 218 times.
"Someone needs to be made accountable when breaches are made," she said.
"Once he gets charged, it's either just a slap on the wrist, a warning or a $200 fine; in fact, threats to kill is only worth $200."
Domestic violence experts say that is because the offenders are not perceived as a risk to society.
Maryclare Machen from Eastern Domestic Violence says it is a problem with the system that needs to change.
"They're released on bail because they're not seen as a risk to society; the risk that is there is to the women and or the women and children," Ms Machen said.
"And while we have one woman or women and children at risk, we have a problem with our system."
National dilemma
Ms Ragi's death, and stories like Ms Ghaly's, have raised concern that not enough is being done to protect women who take out domestic violence orders on their partners.
While each state has its own system, the problem of enforcing the ever-increasing number of restraining orders is a national dilemma.
"What we know from our experience is a lot of men don't really care all that much what a piece of paper might say, particularly those men who might believe they are a victim of a particular conspiracy," Danny Blay from No To Violence said.
"It's just another part of the jigsaw puzzle that's against them and they're going to win the war, if you like."
Gaby Marcus from the Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse says it is the implementation of orders that is the problem.
"When orders are breached, often the follow-up of the breach is insufficient," Ms Marcus said.
"If the perpetrator has got away with breaching the order once, he feels he can get away with breaching the order on subsequent occasions.
"So it's the implementation of the order that's problematic, not the orders themselves."
Angela Hartwig, chief executive of the West Australian Women's Council, says the number of deaths there has doubled.
"We've had 20 deaths since last November, which is an increase on the 10 deaths the year prior," she said.
If the perpetrator has got away with breaching the order once he feels he can get away with breaching the order on subsequent occasions.
Ms Hartwig has been campaigning against domestic violence for decades and now and wants to trial tracking devices for men who breach intervention orders.
"I've seen fines for damaging property and graffiti that are far greater than what we are seeing for breaches of restraining orders," she said.
"We'd like to see a trial brought in to WA of tracking devices where the actual responsibility and accountability of the violence is put where it needs to be - on the perpetrator.
"So if they have been put on a VRO and they breach it, then it's at that point the court will order a tracking device."
Tracking devices
Ms Marcus agrees tracking devices would be useful.
"We've looked at that idea and in some circumstances I think that could be a useful additional strategy," she said.
"In some circumstances it might give the woman prior warning of the approach of the man and it might give her an enhanced feeling of safety, but that strategy on its own isn't going to save someone's life."
Two weeks ago, the Victorian Government was quick to cite the death of Ms Ragi when it increased the maximum penalty of breaching a restraining order to five years' jail.
But it has so far refused to fund the state's coronial review process into domestic homicide.
"We think it's ludicrous," Dr Chris Atmore from the Federation of Community Legal Centres said.
"We owe women like Sargun Ragi system accountability.
"That is exactly what the Family Violence Death review is about."
The coronial review costs $250,000 a year.
Every domestic homicide costs more than $1 million.
Anti-domestic violence campaigners say the coronial review is a crucial process in preventing future murders like Ms Ragi's.
Topics: domestic-violence, community-and-society, law-crime-and-justice, crime-prevention, australia
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