Cases of Domestic Violence Against Women with the Most Severe Consequences Reported By
ANNEX 2
Cases of domestic violence against women with the most severe consequences reported by the media in the period 2009 – end of March 2011
These cases of domestic violence have been selected from the media reports published in 2009, 2010 and until the end of May 2011 (by the termination of this report), as the worst cases of violence reported by the media. Most of these cases ended up with the murder of women and/or children, which in some cases was accompanied by the killer’s suicide or attempted suicide. The cases where the killers were the victims’ acquaintances, neighbours or distant relatives are presented in a separate section from the one in which the abusers are the victims’ partners, current or former spouses. All of them strike with brutality, tragic inevitability of death, the fact that virtually all of the victims knew their killers and even knew them well. It is also striking that domestic violence in these cases lasted continuously for decades and that the institutions failed to respond.
The occurrence of these cases provides a strong argument for asking the following questions: did it have to end up like this, is it true that the victims could not be saved in any way, why were the institutions so inactive or inefficient, why do the women have to live in such a hell and end up in such a way, how many women in this moment live a life of constant torture that is inevitably leading to the fatal outcome?
We would like to mention that these are not all the cases of violence against women, but only a number of selected ones that drew public attention. The findings of the recent studies conducted in Serbia indicate that every woman has been at least once the victim of violence, while every third woman is the victims of some form of domestic violence.[1] The Victimology Society of Serbia warns that in recent years, due to the adverse financial situation, the trend of closing the NGO services for the victims of domestic violence has been noticed. This becomes especially disconcerting when we take into account the findings of the recent research of the Victimology Society of Serbia conducted on a sample of 25 non-governmental organisations, which shows that in 2009 only 5464 victims received assistance from these organisations.
Selected cases from 2009
A man raped his ex-wife and cut her hair with a knife[2]
The police arrested Mr. Spasić after Ms Stanković reported that she had been raped by her ex-husband last Saturday in her rented apartment in Niš. She stated in her report that Spasić had come that evening to her apartment about 9 p.m. to convince her to withdraw all charges against him and to remarry him, and that during that evening he forced her to sexual intercourse. Only when she agreed to marry him again, and he went out of the flat in the morning to buy breakfast, the woman managed to escape through the neighbouring yards and ran to the dispensary in Bubanj where she called a taxi and went straight to the police. Sandra says that the police escorted her to the Institute of Forensic Medicine where she was examined and the findings will be submitted to the investigating authorities. She also stated in her criminal complaint that after raping her, her ex-husband cut a few strands of her hair with a kitchen knife. "He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me in the bathroom, then he began to cut my hair with a knife and throw it in the toilet-bowl," she said. On 6 January, Spasić was brought before the investigating judge who ordered his detention and issued a decision on initiating an investigation procedure. Stanković says for "Blic" that starting from 2006 she has filed several criminal charges against her former husband, but no procedure has been terminated before the court and that she has decided to speak out publicly because she does not see a way out of this situation. “We divorced in 2004 and I have been continuously putting up with his abuse ever since. I have changed addresses and cities, but he always finds me. He threatens me, insults me, pulls my hair, smashes the front door... I have tried to get protection from the institutions and exercise my right to live freely, but without success. He was not even paying attention to a judicial restraining order, and some judges are simply benevolent towards his actions. Some time ago, the Social Welfare Centre threatened to take my children, eight-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son, and give them to foster care because of the whole situation which is not good for them. And all this time I have been trying to get my basic human rights from the state - Stanković said, adding that she was frightened for her life because when she reported Spasić to the police, he was sending her text messages saying "that she would regret it." She says that so far she has filed more criminal charges for domestic violence and that no procedure has been completed, and that she was twice forced to seek refuge in the Shelter for Women and Children Victims of Violence.
Murdered on her doorstep[3]
Kragujevac - Dragan Radovanović (46), also known as Grover, from Guberevci near Knić, killed yesterday morning Mirjana Pantović (44), the owner of the cafe Lukas in the centre of Gruža. Radovanović, who is the father of Mirjana's ten-year old daughter, after a short discussion, took out a gun and fired several fatal shots to the unfortunate woman. He is married and has a wife and three children in Guberevci. The whole village knew that he had a child with the killed woman Mirjana Pantović. “He cared for the child, he used to come and visit them. People were saying that his business went bad and that he allegedly fell into a financial crisis” - the neighbours say.
A man beat his nine-month pregnant wife before the children two and four years old[4]
Branislav T. (29), on leave from the prison in Sremska Mitrovica, where he is serving a sentence for robbery, came home drunk on Saturday and first fisted his common-law wife S. T. (25) and then beat and kicked her all over her body until she managed to escape to the neighbour's house and call the police.
An 80-year old man, Đorđe M. from Bačka Palanka, was sentenced to eight months in prison and mandatory treatment at a specialised medical institution[5]
He threatened his wife to slit her throat; he often walked around with a knife in his hand and stuck it in the table. His wife was repeatedly forced to flee home due to the harassment and assaults that have recently escalated to death threats. Once she locked herself into the living room to avoid his attacks, but he broke the door with an ax and assaulted her. Her son protected her from the mad father, who was about to kill her.
In the village Srezovac near Aleksinac, a sixteen-year-old girl Suzana Savić was killed[6]
The killer is Ivica Panić (30) and the motive is an unfulfilled love because the girl did not want to have a relationship with him. The killer fired two shots at her from an automatic rifle. He also fired at the girl's mother who tried to protect her daughter, but missed.
A man killed his wife and himself with a rifle[7]
Jagodina - Radosav Milojević (55) from Sekurič near Rekovac early yesterday morning killed his wife Mirjana (53) in the bedroom of their home in the settlement Ognjenska mala, with one shot from his hunting rifle. He then called the police and said: "I killed my wife." Before the arrival of a patrol, he also killed himself with a bullet from his hunting rifle. Before this event, she ran away from home at least 40 times. She used to find a shelter at her family’s home, but Radosav was constantly bringing her back.
A man slaughtered his wife and then himself[8]
Smederevo - Milorad Jeremić (70) from Smederevo slaughtered his wife Verica (53) on Wednesday morning , and then, killed himself in the same way. As many as three bloody knives were found at the site of family massacre. A possible motive for the tragedy could be marital problems; Verica repeatedly reported her husband for violence. According to the investigating judge, Verica reported Milorad to the Social Welfare centre and the police. It is even supposed that she intended to go to the police that fatal morning. She said she could no longer live with him and suffer the torture, and that she would report him to the police. They often argued and fought.
A man killed his ex-wife, set the house on fire and then hung himself[9]
The tragedy caused by jealousy happened in the village Novo Lanište near Jagodina. Milorad Milosavljević (57) from Novo Lanište killed his ex-wife Zorica Vasić (48) while she was sleeping, striking her head repeatedly with a blunt object, then set her house on fire, returned to his home 200 meters away from the crime scene and hanged himself.
Milosavljević, a worker of the Jagodina Zoo, around four o'clock on Thursday, when Zorica's new husband Milosav Vasić (50) went to work, smashed the door of their house with an ax, broke in and killed his ex-wife, and then set the fire. The locals say that Zorica divorced Milorad after thirty years of marriage, and that six months ago she married Milosav Vasić, who was a friend of Milorad. Quarrels were often between the former spouses, as well as between Milorad and Milosav, and the police intervened.
A man killed his daughter while she was running away to seek shelter at the neighbours’ house[10]
Details of the tragedy that happened in Pirot. Even a few days after the family tragedy in the Pirot settlement Radin Do, in which Siniša Simić shot to death his twenty year old daughter Nataša with a gun, wounded his wife Dijana, and then shot himself in the head, the motives of this terrible act remain unknown. The tragedy happened in the yard of Dijana's parents' house on Friday around 5 p.m. According to the police in Pirot, Siniša first shot his wife, than his daughter, and in the end killed himself. The village inhabitants say that Siniša and Dijana have not been on good terms. “She repeatedly ran away from him, he was constantly abusing her. Siniša burst in with a gun and started yelling: "Get out of the house, get out of the house". As they walked out, he shot at them, while the daughter was trying to run away to the neighbours. The bullet reached her in the yard.”
A man injured his ex-wife with an ax[11]
Požarevac – The police has arrested Dejan P. (35) from the village Dubravica on suspicion of attempting to kill his ex-wife Milica P. (31) who left him a year ago and returned with three children to her parents’ home in Požarevac. He has lived alone in the family house in Dubravica since his father passed away and also his grandmother died last winter. His mother lives and works abroad. After his wife left, Dejan asked her to come back, but she refused, knowing that he was aggressive, especially when drunk. The day before yesterday, around 6 o'clock, he came to Milica, who slept in the room with the children, and repeatedly struck her with an ax on the head and body. The medical doctors in the hospital in Požarevac established her serious bodily injuries, a broken shoulder blade and cuts from an ax on the head, back and hand. The site investigation was carried out by the investigating judge of the District Court in Požarevac, the Deputy District Public Prosecutor and the Požarevac police team and in the front yard they found the ax which was used for attacking Milica.
A bizarre crime – a man killed his wife because she had not made him a coffee[12]
Radoslav Nezirović (51) from the village Čokot near Niš stabbed his wife Slađana (46) to death with a knife when she refused to make a coffee for him! Radoslav Nezirović (51) from the village Čokot near Niš killed his wife Slađana (46) because she did not want to make a cup of coffee for him! In the presence of his twelve-year old grandson Denis, Radoslav stabbed to death an unfortunate woman! The acquaintances of the Nezirovićs say that Radoslav has abused his wife for years. “He is pathologically jealous. For years, he has been accusing her for alleged extra-marital relationships. She has ill-treated and beat her because he was convinced that she was cheating on him”, says an acquaintance of the family.
A jealous man strangled his wife who had left him[13]
Tomislav Petrović (50) from Gornji Milanovac has said to the investigating judge that he strangled his wife Ljiljana (44) because of jealousy. His wife left him on 1st February but Petrović could not stand it and killed her in April.
A fugitive puts his mother-in-law’s hair on fire[14]
The prisoner of the District Prison in Zaječar Senad Milovanović doused with gasoline and tried to set on fire the family house of his common-law wife in Padinska Skela. Emina Ademi with her children after being attacked by her common-law husband. Yesterday around 9.30 p.m., Senad Milovanović (30), doused with gasoline and tried to set on fire the house of the Ademi family in Padinska Skela Street no. 94 in Belgrade. He burst in through the window of the ground building, carrying in his hand a small bottle filled with the inflammable liquid and sprayed the curtain of the window through which he had entered. According to the witnesses, he threatened to set the rest of the house on fire, without caring for the lives of his common-law wife Emina Ademi (23) and their two minor children, her third child, Emina’a sister with her child and their mother, Džiba Ademi (41), who were all in the house at that moment. Džiba tried to stop Senad by standing in front of him, but he doused his mother-in-law with gasoline and the flame from the curtain smouldered her hair. Senad ran away only when the neighbours, alarmed by the fire and screaming children, came to help the frightened family. The fire was extinguished quickly.