Domestic Abuse

Motley Crue

Ok, so I live in a communal Apartment complex, and there's a shared garden in the middle. My place has an entrance facing the garden. A couple of weeks ago I heard a couple shouting from a window, but couldn't figure out which window it was coming from (and still can't), but at first I payed it no attention. At the time it was a weekday, about 2pm, and the man sounded drunk and very loud and agressive towards a female.

I don't know whether its a daughter, a partner, a maid or just a fling.

Anyway the abuse has continued, and I can't be sure if its the same girl, but I can be sure its the same guy (tone and pattern of his voice) and I am sure that he is under some kind of influence. He is agressive, he treatens to kill the person, "put them in a box" and "bury them away so no one will ever find them again" and that "he's the man, the big shot, and he's gonna do things his way"

At first it was just shouting, but the occassional times, I hear screams after what sounds like a door slam or a dresser door close. Basically, I'm morally worried, because I know its nothing to do with me but I'm thinking what happens if I read on the news that someone was found dead in their apartment and I think I could have stopped it. The girl, or girls, sound young and seem to be there at any time of the day - other people in the complex have heard the shouting and the screaming and some just laugh, thinking its funny to hear a drunk man ramble, because they don't know what else to do.

If I called 999 I couldn't tell them where the emergency is really or who was being victimised. So what do I do before it becomes that bad. Any advice?

star-pants

That's a tough call, because you don't want to get involved in something that may be nothing but you also don't want to ignore it incase it IS something.

You could call social services and explain what you have here. They could make a judgement call on whether or not to call out to them and suss out the situation?

Lollipops23

silence feeds the violence OP, if you can figure out where it's coming from call 999 straight away. stay vigilent, if more people took this type of thing seriously there'd be less scum like him walking the streets.

mollzer

Well done OP on bringing this to the Boards, breaking the silence that surrounds 'domestic' violence is the start that is needed whenever anyone hears or witnesses this type of violence.

Ring the Gardai and alert them to a disturbance in your apartment block. Let them know the severity of what you have heard and how often you have heard it. Dont be worried that you cannot pin-point where it is, let the Gardai do that.

You are so right to be worried, we hear all too often of women dying at the hands of someone close to them.

Just think if your phonecall was to change someones abusive life, the good you have done for her/them!

Good luck!