The brutal killing of a young, homeless woman has renewed discussion in Australia about violence against women.<\/p>\n
The body of Courtney Herron, 25, was found in a Melbourne park by walkers on Saturday, police said.<\/p>\n
“She died as a result of a horrendous bashing – that’s the only way to describe it,” said Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper.<\/p>\n
Police have arrested a 27-year-old homeless man. Henry Hammond appeared in court on Monday charged with murder.<\/p>\n
His lawyer told the court he had some mental health issues. Mr Hammond was remanded in custody following his brief court appearance. His next trial hearing is in September.<\/p>\n
Ms Herron’s death has sparked a wave of public grief and anger following a number of similar cases in Melbourne in the past year.<\/p>\n
Her body was discovered just a short distance from another inner-city park, where comedian Eurydice Dixon was allegedly raped and killed by a stranger last June.<\/p>\n
Police believe Ms Herron was attacked in Royal Park in the suburb of Parkville early on Saturday, and attempts made to conceal her body.<\/p>\n
Police described it as a “particularly horrendous attack”. Initial post-mortem results showed no evidence of sexual assault.<\/p>\n
Det Insp Stamper said Ms Herron’s family was “heartbroken”. Their daughter had experienced mental health and drug abuse problems and she had only “sporadic contact” with her family, he said.<\/p>\n
In recent times she was believed to have been “couch surfing with friends and possibly rough sleeping as well,” said Det Insp Stamper.<\/p>\n
Addressing media on Sunday, Assistant Police Commissioner Luke Cornelius said Melbourne was a safe city but men’s attitudes towards women needed to change.<\/p>\n
“Violence against women is absolutely about men’s behaviour,” he said.<\/p>\n
The premier of Victoria state, Daniel Andrew, made a similar statement saying: “This is not about the way women behave… this is most likely about the behaviour of men.”<\/p>\n
He has previously blamed sexist attitudes in the wake of other killings. In January, 21-year-old\u00a0Israeli Arab student Aya Maasarwe was allegedly attacked by a stranger while walking home.<\/a><\/p>\n The UN has said\u00a0violence against women in Australia is “disturbingly common”<\/a>, but experts say it is not an outlier among developed nations.<\/p>\n According to government figures,\u00a0one in five women, and one in 20 men, have experienced sexual violence or threats since the age of 15.<\/a><\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"