Violence breeds and evolves and when it strikes, ripples outwards affecting everything it touches.

On Thursday, November 3 at 6.30pm, a young woman came face to face with something truly hideous.

A man she had been in a relationship with, had taken steps to protect herself from, had hunted her down.

What followed when she arrived home is a story none of us ever would have expected to occur in a quiet family street in a suburban coastal town.

But for the 1000 women our domestic violence support services assist every year in the Hastings, that fear borne out of physical and emotional violence is real and present in our community.

It exists in the quiet streets of ‘good neighbourhoods’ and does not discriminate. And it impacts all of us. 

A young woman with a career, and no doubt dreams about the future, will be forever scarred, literally, from an attack she did not deserve.

It was not just an act of violence on her body, but an attack on her freedom.

The neighbour who held her while she bled before the paramedics arrived.

The hospital staff who used every second to make decisions that would save her life.

The police officers who put their lives on the line chasing the alleged offender at high speed along the highway

The motorists who got out of their way and the two officers who deployed their weapons ending three hours of terror.

Every person touched by the ripple effect of this sickening moment will forever be impacted in some way.

So will the families of those officers, who every day hope their loved ones come home from work; the children, who on the way to school, asked why the police were in their street; and the family of the deceased man who have lost a son, maybe a brother or even a dad.

This incomprehensible act is horrific for everyone. And it should not be anything less.

The greater tragedy is that violence will continue to invade what is good until real social change occurs.

Violence does not begin with a woman being stabbed. It is there well before we are shocked by its impact.

We need to start the change where violence is born.