On January 17th a young mother and wife was brutally murdered in West Haven, CT. Actually both Shengyl Rasim and her husband Selami Ozdemir died January 17th, Shengyl by Selami, and Selami by his own hands. I was outraged by the reporting of this case as just another "murder-suicide", given that very few details of the couples past was reported in the 30 sec sound bites on the local news stations. Below are the real details behind Shengyl's tragic death and glimpses of various ways her life could have been saved.
Just this past September Selami, Shengyl's husband, was arrested for third degree assault and risk of injury to a minor (The minors in this case are the couples two young boys, one is six and the other is seven months ). Even after being charged with third degree assault, Selami was simply "barred him from threatening or harassing his wife", meaning regardless of assault charges he was still allowed to live in the house!!!( CT Post, see the link below to the full article below)
Flash forward to the night of January 17th, at this point Selami is still living with the family, since he is not breaking any laws in doing so. The police were first called to the house over an argument between Selami and Shengyl. The Connecticut Post reported that after police were called to the scene, "Ozdemir spent about 90 minutes in custody Saturday evening, while being booked on charges of disorderly conduct, risk of injury to a minor and third-degree assault. He was also charged with violating the September court order, which barred him from threatening or harassing his wife." ( CT Post, see link below). Strange, those charges soundly very similar to what he was charged with September?
Selami was released the night of January 17th on the grounds that he would not return to his home or have any contact with his wife until they had their court date on Tuesday. This understanding is called a temporary protective order, created to protect the victim. Yet since we all know the tragic ending, Selami did not follow the temporary "protective order".
At 3:32 am that same morning Shengyl called police to let them know that Selami had returned to their home. Then just before 4 am another 911 call was placed from the home, but the dispatchers could only hear banging and crying noises. When police arrived at the home, they found both bodies. The children have been handed over to DCF.
Just yesterday domestic violence advocates testified before the State's Domestic Violence Task Force pleading for additional funding and better laws for perpetrators. This West Haven case is the perfect example of how the current laws fail the victims of these crimes. Protective orders will not protect victims if the perpetrators can choose if they want to follow them or not.
After reading about a case like Shengyl's it is hard not to wonder, how much longer will the State have to investigate Domestic Violence to conclude it is a problem? How many more women must be killed or injured at the hands of a husband or boyfriend before we as a State demand that victims are granted the services to save their lives. Also how can we change the system to protect victims better?
I encourage you to please read the Hartford Courant article and the Connecticut Post article listed below for more specifics about this case and the advocacy that is taking place on behalf of domestic violence victims.
Connecticut Post: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Questions-remain-in-West-Haven-murder-suicide-327054.php
HartfordCourant:
http://www.courant.com/news/domestic-violence/hc-dv-task-force-0126.artjan26,0,7408079.story
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