The founder of a charity supporting victims of domestic violence across Logan says the severity of crimes is “out of control”.
Her comments come less than a week after Destiny Otton-Rakuraku, a 34-year-old mother of two, was allegedly set on fire by her ex-partner at Kingston.
Tomeeka Smith from local charity Defenders For Hope said her team had not observed victim numbers increase.
But they had noticed the severity of domestic violence acts “getting worse”.
“The severity of the crimes is probably getting a bit out of control,” she said.
“Women are more outspoken now, where a lot of it used to be behind closed doors and normal.
“Now that they are speaking out, we’re seeing the upgrade of severity because control isn’t enough for [perpetrators] anymore.”
According to the latest Queensland Courts data, there were 1295 breaches of domestic violence orders (DVO) recorded at the Beenleigh magistrates court between 1 January to 30 November 2024.
That is a 0.60% increase on the year before.
During that time, there were 981 DVO applications made at the Beenleigh court – a 15.40% decrease from the previous year.
Ms Otton-Rakuraku remains in hospital, according to media reports.
Metro North Health declined to comment.
On 18 January, police allege a Kingston man, 36, used a lighter to set Ms Otton-Rakuraku on fire during a domestic violence altercation at a home in Kingston.
Ms Otton-Rakuraku was found by emergency services at the Kingston Court property that morning with burns to her body.
She was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a serious condition.
“The man was taken into custody and charged with one count each of attempted murder, common assault, and breach of domestic violence,” a police statement read.
Ms Smith said it was important to keep people accountable.
“It’s not just about looking after the victim, it’s also about going up to your friend or your brother or and saying, ‘that’s not right’,” she said.
“It’s always going to be good that we talk about it rather than hide it, but we’re not going to see a complete reduction until we start educating from the get go.
“It’s not just about educating men, it’s about educating everybody.”
