Concern at rise in family violence

High-profile events coupled with increased alcohol consumption does lead to more family violence. Photo / Thinkstock

A rise in home violence incidents in the past fortnight in Wairarapa is concerning, says a family violence co-ordinator.

Gerry Brooking, of Wairarapa Family Violence Network, said she had noticed a spike in reports of family violence in the past fortnight.

"On average we normally have between 15 and 19 incidents a week. In the last two weeks we've had 22 and 24 incidents, so it's a noticeable increase."

She said some of the alleged offenders were known to the service, but others were new cases forwarded to her.

"Whether you can put that down to the Rugby World Cup we just don't know."

However, she added, "Research has shown that high-profile events coupled with increased alcohol consumption does lead to more family violence. Whether that's the case here is hard to tell."

A campaign against family violence during the tournament, dubbed Blow the Whistle, featured prominently in the lead-up to the event.

In Wairarapa the campaign also involved visits to rugby clubs by family violence workers and a visit to Masterton by Kiwi league legend Ruben Wiki.

Ms Brooking said weekly advertisements were also running in regional newspapers throughout the tournament.

Senior Sergeant Warwick Burr, of Masterton police, said he had not noticed any jump in alcohol-related incidents around rugby games.

"There's nothing there that we can point to and say that's definitely due to the World Cup."

The final game of the World Cup will be played in Auckland on October 23.