Three men charged with more than 50 domestic abuse offences after national investigation
THREE men have been arrested over a total of 52 domestic abuse charges as part of investigations by a national task force in Shetland.
Officers from the north domestic abuse task force carried out investigations over the last year following tip-offs about high-risk perpetrators by The Compass Centre and Shetland Women’s Aid.
A total of 24 women were victims of the alleged offences, which date between 2010 and 2026.
The three men were charged separately, have been reported to the procurator fiscal and are yet to be convicted.
Detective Inspector Gordon Patullo, who leads the North domestic abuse task force, said the arrests showed that living in Shetland was no barrier to victims getting the support they needed – or perpetrators of domestic abuse being brought to justice.
He said that if it were not for the good work of local organisations like The Compass Centre and Shetland Women’s Aid, the offences would “100 per cent” have gone under the radar.
“Domestic abuse is very much an unreported crime, for a number of different reasons,” he told Shetland News at Lerwick Police Station today (Monday).
“A lot of offending is uncovered as things that clearly the police had no knowledge of.
“It can be sometimes that it actually helps for a national team coming in, separate from the local police.”
Patullo and his team carried out investigations and met with all the former partners of the men who had been reported.
That uncovered years of offending, dating back to 2010, with one man being charged last October. The other two were charged in March and July of this year.
Patullo and members of his team are in Shetland again this week, where the local arrests were highlighted by area commander Chris Sewell.
Sewell said the specialist resources of the domestic abuse taskforce were able to carry out long, in-depth investigations that his officers may not have the time to do.
“It’s not that we’re better officers,” Patullo explained.
“We’ve just got the time to dedicate and to do these kind of investigations.”
Sewell had paid tribute to The Compass Centre and Shetland Women’s Aid last week, saying he “couldn’t speak highly enough” of their work.
That was echoed by Patullo today, who said the two organisations were “second to none”, particularly when compared to similar charities on the mainland.
And Sewell said what they wanted to emphasise is that Police Scotland and those two charities would work “hand in glove” to support the victims at the heart of these stories.
“We want to champion these results, but it’s really about protecting the victims and making sure they have that trust and confidence in the police,” he said.
“We want people to know that if you’re the victim of domestic abuse, the police will take it seriously, the courts will take it seriously, and it will be brought to justice.”
Shetland Women’s Aid be contacted by phone on 01595 692070 or via office@shetlandwa.org. More information can be found on their website.
The Compass Centre can be contacted on 01595 744402 or 08088 010302, or contact@compasscentre.org. Their website can be found here.
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