Gender-based violence victim used ticket to ask for help

The event occurred in Brazil when a Women She took advantage of the fact that she walked into a bank branch alone to ask help. After security operation, she was taken to safety with her children.

“Can you help me”. The sentence, followed by an “X” and the words “violence domestic, ”was written last Monday by a 27-year-old woman in a bank branch in Sobradinho, in the Federal District, as reported by the Brazilian portal G1.

The victim went to the cash register to receive social assistance and gave the note to the bank employee. In the text, she kept warning: “It’s over there”.

In Brazil, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, only one person is allowed to enter the bank. So while the wife was withdrawing the money, her husband was waiting outside.

The clerk quickly understood the request for help and handed the woman a blank piece of paper, who noted the home address. In this second note, the victim even reinforced that if the police He knocked on the door and the man did not answer, which he insisted.

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The employee contacted the police and, the next day, officers reported to the victim’s home where they rescued her and sent her to a shelter. The assailant, however, was not found at the scene.

The design of the “X” with the request for help is an orientation of the campaign to help women victims of domestic violence launched in June 2020.

The desperation of the bank

The bank clerk who treated the woman said that when he received the note, he asked the victim to write down the information, such as phone number and address. “But the wife was afraid to pass the phone in case the husband answered,” she said.

After the woman left the branch, the employee decided to go to the 13th Sobradinho Police Station. But the policeman on duty did not record the event.

“She read, read, looked at the newspaper and said it was Planaltina’s skill because the woman lived there. I asked her if she couldn’t get in touch with someone, but she didn’t care. you’re welcome, ”the employee said.

The employee also said he even called the Women’s Police Station to report what had happened, but they didn’t respond to him either. “A man responded and said he had to report back in 197 because he needed to know if it was true,” he revealed.

In a statement, the civilian police said that “the matter is under investigation of the highest priority” and that they will provide all relevant information.

One of the people who helped the bank employee in his search for help was Juliana Gomes da Silva, the branch operator.

After learning of her colleague’s frustrated attempts to register the case with the civilian police, Juliana decided to speak to a friend, who is a military police officer from the Planaltina Battalion. He sent photos of the notes: the one asking for help and a second, where the woman wrote the address.

The text, in addition to the address, described how to find the house where the victim lived, giving characteristics such as the color of the door. In the end, the woman also made another request: that the police insist that she open the door.

“From my experience, as soon as I read the notes I contacted a friend who works at the PM (military police). The victim was brief and quick. We were all worried,” said Juliana, also coordinator. of the Central Unique das Favelas (CUFA-DF).

After the complaint, the military police of the Group for the Oriented Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence (Provid) sought the information written on the two documents. When they arrived at the Estância Mestre D’Armas sector address, in Planaltina, they discovered that the woman was in the private custody of her partner.

At home, in a second attempt by the group – in the first apparently no one was there – the team found the woman and her two children: a boy of one year and seven months and a girl of five. The victim confirmed that he wrote the note asking for help. Sérgio Borges, a military police sergeant, said the woman was scared.

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In 2019, the same woman had already been treated after a complaint for violence. “Now it is up to the courts. We have done our part. She can receive a protection order and, depending on what they decide, the judge will issue an arrest warrant against her,” said the sergeant.

The victim was sent to a foster home. Until the afternoon of Wednesday (3), the assailant had not been located.

The shelter to which the woman and her children were taken accommodates victims of domestic violence who file a police report in the Federal District. According to information from the Secretariat for Women, the victim “is calm and says he is relieved”.

The house is protected and the address is kept confidential for the safety of the women received. Victims have access to food, security and transport services.

“This case was very emblematic. The first thing the abuser does is prevent the woman from communicating. This victim, when she had the opportunity to leave her home, decided to ask for help and people got the message. It shows that society is paying more attention. This is the way forward, “says Ericka Filippelli, Federal District Women’s Secretary.

At the end of this month, the Secretariat for Women announced its intention to open registrations to DF establishments to participate in the red light campaign.

In January, a law with the same name was regulated. According to the text, to ask for help, victims must write an “X” in the palm of their hand, with a ballpoint pen, lipstick or any other accessible material, preferably red.

The sign must be shown with an open hand to the employees of these establishments who, in turn, must adopt a protocol of attention and call the security forces. The measure applies: