More help needed for victims

Police want details of deceased's relationships

MOTHER KILLED: Murder victim Joelene Edmonds, 21, with her two daughters two-year-old Vanesti, left, and 14-month-old Iezha. The children are now with relatives.

WRONG PLACE: Sixteen-year-old Jashana Maree Robinson, a Mana College pupil, had lived with Ms Edmonds for less than a week.

CRAIG SIMCOX/The Dominion Post

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: Joelene Edmonds' home at 47 Morere St, Titahi Bay.

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More needs to be done to protect at-risk women after a double killing in Porirua, Women's Refuge says.

Police revealed yesterday that two women found dead in their bedrooms in a home in Titahi Bay on Friday died of "extensive head injuries".

Joelene Rangimaria Edmonds, 21, had taken a protection order out against the man now accused of killing her and her 16-year-old boarder, Jashana Maree Robinson.

Ms Edmonds' two young daughters, aged two and 14 months, were also found inside the Morere St home just after 11am on Friday. They were unharmed and are now with family.

The killings are the latest involving women who had sought court protection from violent men.

Women's Refuge director Heather Henare said yesterday that a "huge percentage" of women who were killed in domestic violence had sought court protection.

"It continues to alarm me that often there's been very relevant signs," she said.

A 28-year-old unemployed man charged on Friday with the double murder appeared in Porirua District Court on Saturday morning. He is also charged with breaching a protection order in respect to Ms Edmonds.

The man, who was granted name suppression, was remanded in custody until July 7.

"Joelene had been in a relationship with the man who has been charged with breaching the protection order," Detective Inspector Shane Cotter said.

Police wanted to speak to anyone who had information about their relationship.

Officers had spoken with two witnesses in relation to the killings but still wanted other people to come forward.

"Police are interested in speaking with anyone who is aware of the relationships that Joelene Edmonds has been in," Mr Cotter said yesterday. He was especially interested in sightings of a male carrying a baseball bat, walking between Tawa and Titahi Bay on Friday between 6am and 10am.

Jashana, a pupil at Mana College in Porirua, had lived with Ms Edmonds for less than a week.

Ms Henare said she did not want to give the message to women that protection orders do not work. However, she said they were just part of the solution and that more needed to be done to protect women in high-risk situations.

"When there's a clear risk, all the bodies involved in that woman's life police, family and friends have a responsibility to make sure that there's a risk management process in place," Ms Henare said.

"They [women] need to continue to seek protection orders.

"The court has decided that the person needs protection and that has to be taken seriously, and we have to ensure we are responding in the right way."

She said protection orders were "there for a purpose" and were "not given lightly".

"We as a community, we have to continue to hold people accountable to their violence.

"If we see something, know something, we've got to do something about it."

Ms Henare welcomed plans by the Health Ministry to set up a death review panel which will investigate the circumstances around domestic violence deaths.

FAILURE TO PROTECT:

November 2005: Deborah Anne Rerekura shot dead in her Taupo home by husband William Rerekura, who then killed himself. Mrs Rerekura had a protection order against Mr Rerekura.

April 2006: Suzanne McSweeney endured years of beatings from her husband, former top detective Dave McSweeney, before he cut her throat. She had taken out a protection order against her estranged husband 10 days before she was killed.

2004: Sheryl Pareanga, a 33-year-old Glenfield mother-of-six, killed by her former partner. She had a protection order against him, but three days before her death, she complained to police about him breaching it.

- © Fairfax NZ News