At a candlelight vigil last Friday, Dawn Clark remembered all victims and survivors of domestic violence.
Ms Clark reflected on Melton woman Fiona Warzywoda’s brutal stabbing in a Sunshine Street last year, the countless women she helped connect to services, and her own brush with violence at home.
The president of the Melton Zonta Club, Ms Clark was among many supporters to light a candle, raising awareness about the prevalence of domestic violence and the need for more women’s shelters.
“I don’t know why [Fiona’s] death affected me so badly, but it just did,” Ms Clark said.
“I rang our president at the time and said: ‘What can we do?’ I just felt so helpless – you’d love to be able to fix this problem, but you can’t. So I suggested we at least pay our respects by holding a candlelight vigil.”
Ms Clark said more women’s refuges are desperately needed in the western suburbs, to help women, and their children fleeing abusive partners.
And while state and federal governments were doing a good job tackling domestic violence, Ms Clark urged the premier and prime minister to invest more money.
“We don’t have enough refuges here in the west. Where do these women go? You can’t take the men out of the homes and leave the women there,” she said.
“I turned on the news the other day and some idiot had poured bleach down his wife’s throat. It beggars bloody belief – I can’t believe people do these things.”
