Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Article: Nevada Leads the Country in Domestic Violence Deaths

LAS VEGAS -- A fight between a Las Vegas couple turned violent and now the woman is dead and her husband is behind bars.

The arrest report in this case details what happened in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant Sunday night.

Police say 55-year-old Alfonso Martinez-Billanueva intentionally ran over his wife, Piedad Perpa-Martinez, with his truck following an argument. It's a deadly example of the domestic violence that is impacting a growing number of Hispanic women.

Martinez-Billanueva is behind bars facing charges of murder with a deadly weapon. Police say he and his wife were arguing outside the restaurant when witnesses saw him intentionally run her over with his truck. She later died from her injuries.

"There's a lot of rage, a lot of hatred against women," said Rebecca Ferreira, Safe Faith United. She is a domestic violence victim advocate. She says Piedad Perpa-Martinez is now the third Latino to be killed in a domestic violence case in southern Nevada in the past three months.

Ferreira said many Hispanic women want to get away from their abusive husbands but can't due to language and cultural issues. She says they end up staying or going back to their spouses because they have nowhere else to turn.

"If we don't overcome these barriers, we will continue to see violent homicides among Latino communities and families."

In this latest case, Metro said Martinez-Billanueva was arrested after authorities tracked him down at the couple's home. Police say he failed a Sobriety Field Test. According to the arrest report, he told police his wife was "crazy."

Ferreira said, even if the couple never had a violent encounter in the past, things should have never escalated to what happened.

For the past three years, Nevada has led the country in the number of homicides relating to domestic violence. Officials say between 17 and 40 women in this state die each year at the hands of their abusers.

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