Sarah Montgomery, and the epidemic of violence against women in Northern Ireland

The killing of Sarah Montgomery has shaken Northern Ireland. She was 27, a mother of two, and 34 weeks pregnant with her first son when she was found fatally injured in her home in Donaghadee. A man has been charged with her murder, and with causing the destruction of her unborn child.

People have responded with heartbreak and generosity, raising over £10,000 for her funeral and her children. But grief alone won’t protect the next woman. Sarah is the 27th woman to be killed in Northern Ireland since 2020. That number is not just a tragedy. It is a failure.

In the year to 31 March 2025, the PSNI recorded nearly 30,000 domestic abuse incidents and over 18,000 related crimes. Every killing recorded as a domestic abuse-motivated crime involved a female victim. That’s roughly one domestic abuse report for every 65 women in the population: a higher rate than in England, Scotland, or Wales. Most of these crimes involved repeated assaults, not one-offs. This isn’t a hidden crisis. It’s just one that keeps being deprioritised.

We also can’t ignore the lingering effects of the conflict. The Independent Reporting Commission’s latest report makes it clear that paramilitary control still operates inside homes as well as streets. Survivors say the threat of what their partner is ‘capable of’, when linked to armed groups, can be enough to stop them from seeking help at all.

Northern Ireland was late to recognise coercive control as a crime. But the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act, which finally came into force in 2022, was a step forward. A year ago, the Executive launched its first Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Women and Girls. And the PSNI’s own action plan promised a whole-of-policing response. These are welcome moves. But they are not enough.

Frontline services remain on short-term grants. Investigations still fall short, as seen in the failings exposed after the murder of Katie Simpson in Derry in 2020. And the groups doing the work, such as shelters, advocates, support staff, still do not have the secure funding or oversight they need.

As humanists, we believe every person has equal worth and dignity. That means taking real action to end violence against women and all violence motivated by sex or gender – not just mourning its victims after the fact.

We need services women can rely on before they’re in crisis. We need to tackle the use of paramilitary intimidation in domestic abuse. We need to teach every young person what respect and equality really mean. And we need open, regular data on how many arrests, charges, and convictions are being made, so the public can see whether change is happening.

No woman’s safety should depend on luck. If we want to honour Sarah Montgomery, we need to change the conditions that left her at risk. 

Northern Ireland Humanists