By ANEEKA SIMONIS
A HEAVILY pregnant soon-to-be mum of four has been put into untraceable accommodation by a south-east welfare group following repeated death threats against her and at least one child.
Windermere is urging donors to come forward to help victims on starting a new life after escaping torment and violence within the security of their homes.
Adele, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, was eight months pregnant with three other children when she came to Windermere for support.
She was desperate.
Although she had separated from her partner Corey, also not his real name, due to ongoing violence and had taken out an intervention order, he still managed to track the family down, break into their house and repeatedly threaten to kill them.
It had chilling impacts on the children, particularly their eldest who began having panic attacks at school.
The daughter began seeing a school counsellor, but the help was short-lived.
Her father found out and threatened to kill if she ever went to school again.
Each day for the next two weeks, Corey would lie in wait outside the school grounds to see if his daughter went against his wishes.
Adele had tried to leave a number of times, but felt it may be too dangerous for her kids.
That was until it became too dangerous to stay.
Terrified that the threat of death was becoming more and more real, Adele gathered her children and mother and left home with nothing.
She turned to Windermere for help.
Within a few hours, Windermere was able to ensure Adele received medical attention for her and her unborn baby in addition to secure untraceable accommodation, food, clothing and petrol vouchers.
She, her eldest daughter and mother were later issued round-the-clock monitoring pendants with activated pinpoint trackers programmed to notify police if anyone were to find themselves in distress as well as record threatening conversations to be used in court.
Both Adele and her mother also received family violence and sexual assault counselling.
The older children have been linked in with important support service to overcome the early trauma.
Windermere CEO Dr Lynette Buoy said Adele’s story was not dissimilar to the many other tragedies afflicting women and children across the region.
She urged the community to pitch in to help victims brave enough to escape their terror circumstances.
“We’ve chosen to highlight Adele’s story this year as an act of family violence is committed almost every two and half hours in Casey, Cardinia, Latrobe and Baw Baw shires and at least one third of these incidents will be witnessed by a child,” she said.
“The community plays such an important part in stemming the tide of family violence.
“By making a tax deductible gift, we can help more families realise their dream of living a life without fear.”
Last year, Windermere intervened to help more than 12,000 families and individuals.
Donations can be made online at www.windermere.org.au or by calling 9705 3200.
If you know someone who needs immediate assistance, call Windermere on 1300 946 337.
