Emma Bates, 49, has been remembered as a “proud aunty” who had “the biggest heart” after her body was found inside her home in Northern Victoria earlier this week.
A family statement read: “She was always helping someone. Dropping food for an elderly neighbour. Giving lifts to people who needed it. The list goes on.”
On Tuesday, emergency services were called to her address in Cobram, Victoria, where they found Bates with fatal injuries.
Her partner John Torney was arrested by police on Wednesday and charged with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, common law assault, aggravated assault of a female and unlawful assault.
Nearly a decade ago, the 39-year-old man had been acquitted of murder over the death of Mildura toddler Nikki Coslovich, whose body was found in the roof cavity of her family home.
Torney will face Shepparton Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
It’s been reported that Torney and Bates had recently started dating and were neighbours.
Bates’ family told 9News that Bates had spent her life dealing with a variety of health complications and had used a mobility scooter to travel around.
“Despite all her health challenges, she had the biggest heart of anyone we know,” the statement said.
“She was the crazy cat lady aunt. She had her rescues that she treated like her babies. Her home decor was all cat inspired.”
“Emma wasn’t blessed with children but was a proud aunty to her 17 nieces and nephews. They were her pride and joy and she would spend hours talking about them to everyone. She had many of their faces tattooed to her leg so she could carry them with her always.”
A crisis of male violence in Australia
Bates is the 26th woman to be killed by violence in Australia this year, according to Counting Dead Women Australia and Destroy the Joint’s statistics.
Just yesterday, Women’s Agenda reported on the tragic death of 28-year-old Molly Ticehurst who was found in a home in Forbes, in a scene described as “brutal” by first responders. A 29-year-old man, Daniel Billings has been charged with her murder after being released on bail just over two weeks ago for a string of violent offences.
In recent weeks and months, a sickening line-up of murders have shown that women are not safe in their homes, nor anywhere else in the country, including shopping malls, running trails or car parks.
On average, one woman in Australia is killed by a current or former partner every nine days.
“Young women don’t feel safe. Older women don’t feel safe. And we have to have an honest conversation about how we confront what is an epidemic in this country, which is violence against women, and often, women and children,” the Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher said.
This weekend, rallies are taking place in a dozen locations across the country to call on greater government action towards putting an end to violence against women, with one of the demands being to recognise the issue as a national emergency.
Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin says she’s very distressed about the level of fear that women are expressing, and therefore, has called a national roundtable in Canberra to find solutions to prevent women from being murdered or going missing.
‘This is a men’s issue’
Lately, a number of senior government members, including the prime minister, have called on men to “step up” in stopping the “crisis” of violence against women.
Last week, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said that to create lasting change, women could not be expected to solve this national issue alone.
Gallagher said that “the really constructive thing men can do” to take a stand against male violence is to engage in conversations about it with their friends as well as to speak to their sons about it.
“Men often don’t talk about these things, and probably because they think ‘it doesn’t relate to me’ or ‘it’s not part of my life’,” she says. “But we know from the statistics that it’s part of a lot of men’s lives, so I think men have a huge role to play.”
Elsewhere, Independent Senator David Pocock called the issue of male violence in Australia “deeply troubling”, saying that there needs to be “a fundamental shift in the way that we treat women in this country.”
“This is framed as a women’s issue but clearly, this is first and foremost a men’s issue,” he said.
“This is the way that boys, young men are thinking about women.We have a huge cultural issue here that we need to tackle, and this is going to take far more than some extra funding.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au for online chat and video call services.
If you are concerned about your behaviour or use of violence, you can contact the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491 or visit http://www.ntv.org.au.
Feeling worried or no good? No shame, no judgement, safe place to yarn. Speak to a 13YARN Crisis Supporter, call 13 92 76. This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.