Local woman Wendy Robinson has vowed to continue to advocate for the prevention of domestic violence and changes to the law following a domestic violence incident in December 2014 in which both her parents were killed by her brother.
Wendy was a guest speaker at Cobar’s Reclaim the Night awareness event on Friday night coordinated by Centacare and the Cobar Domestic Violence Action Group.
“Mum and Dad had paid the ultimate price after years of verbal and financial abuse and the physical assault,” Wendy said.
“They lost their lives while protecting the perpetrator, their son.
“They always made excuses for him and they always said he would not hurt them.
“Repeatedly, he did hurt them.”
She said her brother’s abuse went on for many years before he killed their parents.
“I am sending a warning out there to as many people as I can.
“Don’t accept any of this in your life.
“It is not okay! Don’t always accept “I’m sorry” or “I didn’t mean to”.
“Take a stand and protect yourself and others when the threats, intimidation, verbal and physical abuse occur.
“Seek help. Report it to police; and in saying this I don’t mean just notify police.
“You need to make a statement,” she said.
“If the person abusing you has to face court, let them.
“Don’t be afraid of the consequences for them and retract from your statement and actions.
“The law needs to intercept and the law needs to take action.
“I will openly admit, this is where I went wrong,” Wendy said.
“Yes, there were times when I called the police, however there were times when I didn’t as Mum would not allow this.
“Now I regret not making more calls to the police.”
Wendy urged victims of domestic violence to not be embarrassed and to try not to be afraid.
“You have done nothing wrong. My Mum and Dad did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong,” she said.
“We all need to take a stand and not let this happen to anyone.
“The victim needs to take a stand and not let this happen to themselves.”
Wendy said the past three years since her parents’ deaths have been very hard for her and her family but she is determined to see that justice is served on her brother.
Over the past year she has filed a case for her brother to forfeit his rights to her parents’ estate and the case is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.
“My message to you tonight is don’t ever give up,” she said.
