'Attacked with knives, pelted with heavy objects and alone with their abuse' - the shocking reality for male victims of domestic violence | Daily Mail

By MARTHA AZZI FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

One in three victims of family violence is male but there is reportedly little help or support from the government for male victims of domestic violence.

Jasmin Newman, a specialist men’s coach from Relating To Men, believes the current situation for male victims of domestic violence is desperate, according to Channel 9's A Current Affair program.

'There's no shelters, there's no counseling, there's no services available to them, we provide government funding services for woman but we're not providing government funding services for men,' she told the programme. 

One alleged male victim of domestic violence, Simon Lanham, says he was on the brink of death when his ex-partner stabbed him five times. He now has a long scar through the centre of his abdomen after the operation needed to save his life.

'It wasn't the first time she'd attacked me with a knife but she'd always come at me when I could see her coming, so I could stop her but it was dark and she got me from behind,' he said in recounting his version of events. 

In another incident, Mr Lanham was allegedly goaded into retaliating and trading blows with his former partner.

'It took her [his ex-partner] 12 hours from when she wanted me to hit her from when I actually hit her...I probably got punched in the head about 50 times I got spat in the face about a dozen times, grabbed in the testicles and grabbed to the ground half a dozen times and got kicked, eventually she cornered me and got my face before I hit her,' he said.

Phil Hunt who was also allegedly a victim to his wife's rages said he didn't retaliate when she became violent because it felt wrong but if the situations were reversed he would likely be in jail.

'There was things thrown at me like pots and glasses and I remember one night she threw like a ceramic vase type thing at me, it just shattered on the wall. She threw it that hard, lucky I dodged it,' he alleged. 

Even though they might seek help, male victims are not being taken seriously.

Mr Hunt alleged that he reported the incident to police, but he was dismissed. 

'She basically told me just man up and deal with the problem because my ex was quite small... she sort of looked as though, how could she do any damage to you,' he alleged. 

According to One in Three, a website in support of male victims, implies the gender-based campaigns that always refer to woman as victims of domestic violence 'suggest that men are the only perpetrators of family violence and women and children the only victims.'