Victims are calling for stiffer sentencing guidelines for those convicted of violence against women in Northern Ireland as it grapples with a femicide record described as an “epidemic”.
Twenty-eight women and a girl have been violently killed in Northern Ireland since 2020, the worst rate in the UK and Ireland, and one of the worst in Europe.
In the most recent incident, 45-year-old Vanessa Whyte was shot dead along with her teenage children, James and Sara, at their home in Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh, on 23 July.
The sole suspect, her husband Ian Rutledge, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The slaying of the family came just weeks after mother-of-two Sarah Montgomery, 27, was murdered in Donaghadee. She was pregnant with her third child, a boy. A man has been charged with her murder.
Dr Susan Lagdon, a senior lecturer in psychology at Ulster University, describes the justice system in Northern Ireland as a “secondary form of victimisation” for women, and is urging tougher sentencing.
“A system that is victim-centred is where we need to move to next, and it absolutely comes from Stormont,” Dr Lagdon said.
Ulster University has previously carried out research that found 98% of Northern Irish female respondents had experienced some form of abuse or violence in their lifetime, a figure it described as “eye-watering”.
“I can’t say there’s a single reason why,” Dr Lagdon said.
“I’d probably describe it as a perfect storm. We’re looking at multitude of things accumulating together to create an increased risk for women and girls.
“We can’t get away from our history of civil unrest, and violence within society is going to create a sense of normalisation within family homes. We also have a general distrust in our authority and so reporting and help-seeking can actually put people at risk.”
Abigail Lyle agrees. The dressage rider from Bangor, who has represented Ireland at the Olympics, was attacked by former partner and fellow equestrian Jonathan Creswell.
He was given a six-month jail term for beating Abigail.
After he was released, Creswell was accused of murdering another woman, showjumper Katie Simpson, in 2020.
“Northern Ireland is a post-conflict society and I think there’s a lot of tolerance or desensitivity towards violence,” Abigail told Sky News.
“I think there’s also a lot of that attitude that it’s not your business, don’t get involved, turn a blind eye, you don’t want to get involved with the authorities.
“That’s probably still there from the times of The Troubles.”
Jonathan Creswell killed himself during his murder trial in 2024. The Katie Simpson case forms the basis of a new Sky documentary, Death Of A Showjumper.
“You definitely have survivor’s guilt,” said Abigail.
“That was something I really dealt with after Katie because I thought why am I here and she’s not? All my violent interactions with Johnny… every time, I felt like he could have killed me. Every time. Every single altercation was terrifying.”
‘Not tragedies, they’re murders’
Journalist Tanya Fowles was instrumental in alerting police to the suspicious nature of Katie Simpson’s death. Creswell claimed she had taken her own life.
“It seems like an epidemic anyway, and it’s not getting any better,” Tanya said of the recent wave of femicides.
“If the number of women who are being murdered in their homes by their own partner was the number of police officers being killed on the streets of Northern Ireland, there’d be uproar.”
“It almost seems like the more attention is drawn to these murders – and they’re not tragedies, they’re murders – it seems to be getting worse,” added Tanya.
“I think the Northern Ireland sentencing regime is too poor,” she said.
“I think there’s a very regrettable attitude towards victims who are terrified of what’s happened, traumatised by what has happened, fearful of what the justice system holds. Sentences need to be meaningful.”
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The head of the judiciary in Northern Ireland is the Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan.
In a statement, her office said the judiciary “are aware of the devastating impact on families experiencing domestic abuse”.
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“The sentencing framework, within which all judges must act, is set in legislation by the Department of Justice”, the statement continued.
“Under recent legislation passed by the [Northern Ireland] Assembly, the sentencing court, in determining the appropriate sentence, must treat the fact that the offence is aggravated by domestic abuse as a factor that increases the seriousness of the offence.”
The Northern Ireland Executive launched a strategy to end violence against women and girls last year, but nobody doubts it will take time to arrest the current trend of offences.
Abigail Lyle, who now lives in England, has some optimism that things can change for the better in her home nation, but sounds a chilling note. “It’s really sad to say… but women are taking the brunt of it. Because they’re easy targets.”
