WARNING: This post deals with domestic abuse and may be distressing for some readers.
This is the single greatest factor contributing to the death, ill-health and disability of Australian women under 45 years of age.
Greater than smoking.
Greater than obesity.
One woman dies from it every week.
This is domestic violence.
Death, maiming and destruction of women at the hands of their partners and ex-partners.
Women beaten, thrown off balconies and burnt alive.
And yet here we read again of another horrific crime just last Friday.
Again we see it on the evening news.
Again we hope for justice for the victim.
On Friday night in Sydney, the police were called to the Regis Towers apartment block on Castlereagh Street in the CBD about 6.15pm to find a woman with burns to her head and upper body.
She had been doused in a flammable liquid and set alight.
The woman is Nataya Sripho, a 34-year-old Australian resident of Thai background. She was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
The police report that shortly after, emergency crews were called to nearby Ultimo to treat a 28-year-old man with burns to his arms.
The man was her former partner – Surachet Suska-Ngachareon.
He was taken to hospital and treated, before being charged Monday afternoon with grievous bodily harm, intent to murder and breaching an apprehended violence order.
He was refused bail.
Yesterday, the court was told that the services of a Thai interpreter were not immediately available and the case was adjourned until today. According to The Daily Telegraph, the court also heard there was also a breach of bail charge against Suksa-Ngachareon, which had previously been dropped by the prosecution.