Law enforcement utterly fails murdered mother (Milford, Connecticut)

Women are always blamed for "getting themselves killed" because they didn't get out of a "relationship" with a violent man soon enough. Of course, the assumption is totally naive. You don't just casually say one day, "You know, Honey, things aren't working out between us, so I think I'll move out." Not unless you want to get assaulted or killed. You have to have a safety plan in place: Money, a secure place to stay, all your legal papers in order, full custody of your children (very difficult these days), adequately paying employment.

You also need the support and cooperation of the police and the local authorities. And that is EXACTLY what was missing here. Once again, the utterly STUPID and INDIFFERENT authorities let out on bail an abusive piece of sh**--and that's the morning AFTER his arrest for domestic violence the night before. Not much of a "cooling down" time, is it? He had previously been arrested for assault just a few months earlier, so this guy had a clear track record of what he was about. So there is NO EXCUSE. So what do you think he did next? Any idiot could tell you. He's banging on the door at the home of his "estranged" wife, demanding to be let in. The mother calls the police, who manage to dither for about half an hour. This should have been a TOP PRIORITY call given the man's history, but no. It wasn't.

The end result is that dad SELAMI OZDEMIR murdered his wife, while his two children are barricaded in another room, completely traumatized and now motherless.

And yet, state Attorney General Kevin Lawlor wrings his hands, and says (no doubt with a tear in his eye) that they "need to learn what happened here" and "make recommendations on how such tragedies can be avoided in the future."

Come on, Mr. Lawlor. Very ingenuous of you. It's pretty clear what needs to be done. Here's just four quick suggestions:

1) For starters, stop defining domestic violence murder as an inexplicable "tragedy" that nobody could have foreseen or prevented. This was not a "tragedy" handed down from the fates or by accident. Domestic homicide is usually an utterly predictable outcome, especially when there have been systematic failures by the police and the courts. Until you start thinking of these crimes as failures of law enforcement and the justice system--and not merely as sad random events--you will make no progress in addressing the problem.

2) Stop giving out bail to domestic batterers, especially those with a track record of abuse.

3) Enforce orders of protection. There is no excuse for police dithering in this case.

4) Set up strict penalties for gun dealers who sell weapons to customers in violation of a court order.

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Court-date-too-late-in-murder-suicide-475734.php

Court date too late in murder-suicide
Frank Juliano, Staff Writer
Published: 10:36 p.m., Wednesday, May 5, 2010

MILFORD -- Selami Ozdemir was supposed to be in court Wednesday for a hearing in his arrest for assaulting his wife last September.

But the case was quietly dismissed because Ozdemir, 41, shot and killed his wife and then himself in January, in a second, double-fatal spasm of violence.

The murder-suicide raised a lot of questions in West Haven's Turkish community, particularly about the handling by police of Shengyl Rasim's frantic call less than a half-hour before she was killed.

The 25-year-old woman told police that her estranged husband, who bailed himself out after being arrested for domestic violence the night before, was now banging on the apartment door demanding to be let in.

When police arrived, shortly before 4 a.m. on Jan. 17, they found the couple shot to death and their two young children barricaded in another room.

State's Attorney Kevin D. Lawlor said Wednesday that his staff is continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the West Haven woman's death. "We have two goals,'' the prosecutor said. "To learn what happened here and to make recommendations on how such tragedies can be avoided in the future.''

Lawlor said the investigation is "progressing'' and should be concluded soon. A number of state and private agencies are cooperating with his staff and helping to compile data.

The dead man appeared on Wednesday's court docket so that the September charges of third-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor could be dismissed administratively, another court official said.

Ozdemir and Rasim, both Turkish immigrants, were known to be having problems and often had loud arguments in public, the couple's neighbors said. Despite the September arrest. Ozdemir was living in the apartment at 341 Blohm St. in West Haven. A protective order was supposed to keep him away after his arrest the day before the murder, until he could be arraigned in court on that Monday.

But the restaurant worker, in violation of the court order, had purchased a gun and returned home hours later. The case was one of a spate of high-profile domestic violence incidents last winter, including another murder-suicide.