Four Women Have Been Killed In SA In Just One Week & Advocates Are Calling For Men To Step Up

Advocates for women’s safety are urging the public not to turn a blind eye to the alleged killings of four women in South Australia over one week, all in relation to alleged domestic violence incidents.

Last Wednesday 16 November, a 44-year-old woman was found dead in Felixstow, in Adelaide’s north east. A man from Felixstow who allegedly was known to the woman was arrested and charged with murder.

On Thursday, 53-year-old Michael Amos was charged for the alleged murder of his former partner, a 45-year-old woman. She was found with severe headwounds in a bathroom at a home in Davenport, about 282km north of Adelaide.

The following Monday, 40-year-old man Clifford Neumann was arrested and charged for the alleged murder of a 39-year-old mother-of-five who was found dead at a home in Morphett Vale on Sunday, in Adelaide’s south. Police claim he was also known to the woman.

And just yesterday, police launched a “major manhunt” to find 55-year-old Kevin Jewell who allegedly killed his wife Jodie at their home in Modbury North. A body has been found which police believe may belong to Kevin.

These four women are just a fraction of the women who have been killed this year, with femicide researcher Sherele Moody reporting that 66 women have been killed in Australia this week. We’re only 47 weeks into the year.

Just last month, another five women were killed in the span of 10 days.

Advocates have expressed their shock at how this number continues to grow with little action from state and federal governments.

“I’m just in shock and don’t know how to respond – with the fact that we are not as a community acting like these lives matter,” advocate Deirdre Flynn told ABC News.

“I don’t think they’re given the attention they deserve. I think to a degree people might feel increasingly powerless and helpless if they continue to hear about more women being killed.”

Flynn called for South Australian communities to avoid being idle bystanders and to build relationships with the men and women around them. She also called for men to stand up for women and call out their mates.

“It’s women that are always doing the talking … we are just not hearing enough from men. Many other women like myself are feeling just the silence from men,” she said.

“One death is too much.”

Flynn’s sentiments of community action were also echoed by Communicare and White Ribbon Australia chief executive Melissa Perry.

“We cannot be a society so numbed and desensitised that we view family and domestic violence as just another statistic,” she told ABC News.

“We urge all Australians, particularly men, to educate themselves about the realities of domestic violence, challenge harmful attitudes and beliefs when they see them, and speak out against violence in all its forms.”