Domestic Violence Knows No Bounds | News

Buffalo, N.Y. - "It's always based in power and control."

Mary Travers Murphy says abusers always want to control every aspect of their partner's life.

Murphy runs the Family Justice Center which offers victims of domestic violence a one stop center for help, with everything from shelter, to orders of protection, to the ability to speak directly with the police and a member of the District Attorney's office.

Mary Travers Murphy: "A very popular method of power and control for abusers is isolation. Removing the victim from the network of family and friends that they can fall back on. So that isolation piece, in addition to insults and intimidation- you're fat, you are ugly you are this you are that. And this master manipulator does a magnificent job brainwashing the victim that any punch, any kick, any act of violence or further intimidation or insult is the fault of the victim and it happens all the time."

And that violence can turn deadly, as we saw in the case of Aasiya Hassan, the Orchard Park woman who was murdered by her husband.

Mary Travers Murphy: "We know the most dangerous time of a relationship is when perpetrator gets wind of the fact the victim is exiting stage left, is going to leave, it can accelerate to a fatality just like that."

The person of interest in the case of the killing of the ECMC employee is a doctor, Timothy Jorden, which might surprise some of us.

Scott Brown: "Are there any boundaries when it comes to abuse when it comes to education or income?"

Mary Travers Murphy: "Domestic violence does not stop at any level of affluence or education. Domestic violence does not stop at any zip code or any municipal line or any age or race or culture or religion. It breaks through every single level of society as we know it."

The Family Justice Center's phone number is 558-7233.