A CHARITY advocating women?s rights has charged the courts with complacency after a man who stabbed his girlfriend in the back was jailed for just three years.

And Women?s Resource Centre executive director Penny Dill says the problem of domestic violence will not be eradicated until ?we address it in the same way we address other crimes?.

Mrs. Dill spoke out after 35-year-old Kenneth Simmons was jailed for three years last week following an attack on his girlfriend.

Magistrate Archibald Warner heard how Simmons, who has a previous conviction for violence against women, arrived home drunk one night last November and stabbed his girlfriend in the back.

Simmons, a single father with custody of his son, begged for leniency, but Mr. Warner jailed him for three years.

Last night Mrs. Dill condemned the sentence as another example of the authorities not treating domestic violence seriously.

?The Women?s Resource Centre is concerned about the leniency given towards perpetrators of domestic violence, in particular the recent case where the person was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing his girlfriend,? she said.

?This person had a previous history of violence against women and breaching a protection order. We have some serious concerns because recently there have been cases where the perpetrator of violence has been granted bail, been released back into the community and committed a more serious act.

?It starts with the breaching of the order, we have to take these situations much more seriously ? women are looking for the courts to protect them and we are failing.

?It?s not just the system in place its our complacency as a community to accept the situation and we need to look at domestic violence and all incidents of violence and the type of sentencing that is being given. The Women?s Resource Centre also has concerns under what conditions bail is granted.

?Domestic violence is not going to go away until we address it in the same way we address other crimes. Lives are at stake, our women and our children need to know that they will get protected through the courts and the perpetrators of the violence need to know it is not acceptable behaviour. Domestic violence is not someone else?s problem ? it?s our problem.