Elaine Keogh
The sister of Nicole Brown-Simpson, the murdered wife of O.J. Simpson, has appealed to women affected by domestic violence to "reach out and get help".
Although he was not convicted of her murder, O.J. Simpson was found to be responsible for her unlawful killing in the civil courts in America. After her death her family found she had kept records detailing 17 years of abuse; now they want to help others in similar situations. In an introduction for a catalogue of posters from around the world highlighting the extent of violence against women, she wrote, "I don't want to see any more Nicoles out there."
Mr Colm Dempsey, a garda based in Dundalk who organised the exhibition, said "the concept behind the exhibition is that there are 365 days in the year but during every day of the year, every hour in the day, every minute of the hour and every second of the minute somewhere in the world that a woman is being subjected to violence, abuse or rape."
The posters are dramatic, powerful and frequently disturbing. One has a large bouquet of flowers on the lid of a coffin. The caption reads: "He beat her 132 times. She only got flowers once."
Some of the statistics featured are grim: one in two girls in India are sexually abused, one in six women in South Africa share their life with an abusive partner and, a study from the campus of UCLA, in California found that 65 per cent of college-educated males said they would rape a woman if they thought they could get away with it.
The exhibition is having its premiere in Dundalk and will go on tour around the country later in the year. It is on display in the county museum in Dundalk until next Thursday.