Crime: Lest We Forget
The Sun Herald
Saturday August 6, 1994
DEBBIE Dwyer can never forget the horrific night of Saturday, June 13, 1992 no matter how hard she tries.
The 39-year-old Lithgow hairdresser was stabbed 11 times by her boyfriend as she slept in bed.
Her wounds included six holes in her bowel, a hole in the stomach and pancreas damage.
"I managed to get through the attack only when I told him to let me die,"she recalled yesterday.
"I found out only later that I had to be resuscitated. I was emotionally wrecked."
The boyfriend, who tried to stab himself later that night, was charged and later convicted of attempted murder.
Sentenced for a minimum eight-year term with an additional 10 years and eight months, he is appealing against the sentence and demanding a retrial.
"The case is giving me nightmares which are very vivid," said Ms Dwyer.
But she has been helped by her friends in the Sydney City Mission Victims of Crime Counselling and Referral Service to come to terms with her fears.
"I wouldn't be standing here now if I hadn't been given help," she said.
Ms Dwyer will speak about her experiences at the mission's Victims of Crime Awareness Week, which begins on Monday next week.
The following Friday, Ms Dwyer and others who have experienced the terror of crime will convene a conference titled "Healing and Pain".
The awareness week will allow people to know that life can go on after suffering from exposure to crime.
Martin, 39, who requested that his surname not be published, was routinely flogged over a period of 11 years at an exclusive Sydney high school.
In particular, from the age of 10 and 13 he was flogged 11 times with a 1m cane and was often hit in the back by a science teacher who punished students for not putting their pens down on time.
"For three weeks after being flogged I would be physically scarred, but it was the sense of powerlessness afterwards which was the worst," Martin said.
"To the age of 28 I suffered heavily from post-traumatic stress disorder and had flashbacks in my sleep of the floggings. Even now the sound of a squash court nearly makes me faint because it sounds like caning."
Pharmacist Olga Lane, 68, has been the victim of five armed hold-ups over the past six years and has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder since being held up by a robber with a kitchen knife last August.
"I normally have a strong character but after this last robbery I fell in a heap and thought 'I can't believe that this is happening to me'," she said.
Maureen Patrick, who manages the counselling services, said: "There was nothing in Sydney for crime victims last year.
"With assistance from the NSW Attorney-General's Department the Sydney City Mission established a counselling and referral service for crime victims which has been in operation since July.".
The mission has provided phone, face-to-face and group counselling to people who need someone to share their harsh experiences with.
They have worked with the Victims of Homicide Support Group and the Victims of Crime Assistance League, which featured in last week's Sun-Herald.
© 1994 The Sun Herald