By Lesley Walsh
THE COMMUNITY where murdered Sarah Montgomery lived and raised her two children until her death last year is honouring her memory next month with an event focusing on domestic abuse.
Twenty seven year-old Sarah was 34 weeks pregnant when she was killed, along with her unborn son, at her home at Elmfield Walk in Donaghadee where she lived with her two little girls.
Zak Hughes, of Ardglen Place, in Belfast, is currently on remand in connection with her murder last June 27, alongside the rarely seen charge in Northern Ireland of child destruction.
Sarah was one of 28 women to have been murdered in Northern Ireland since 2020. The event, When Home Isn’t Safe, is being hosted by the local charity, the Donaghadee Community Development Association, supported by Women’s Aid North Down and Ards, and the Police and Community Safety Partnership.
The Association is inviting people to join them ‘in honour of Sarah Montgomery and her baby Liam’, for an ‘evening of solidarity, reflection and action around domestic abuse and coercive control’.
The event will take place at Donaghadee Community Centre, at 12a Railway Street, Donagahdee on Tuesday, March 3 from 7pm to 8:30pm.
In its social media announcement of the event, the Association stated: “This event is in honour of Sarah Montgomery and everyone who has been impacted by domestic abuse in Northern Ireland.”
The event will feature the ’Souls of Our Shoes’ exhibition – depicting footwear from more than 50 survivors of domestic abuse – which was organised by the Mother’s Union for display at Stormont last autumn in an evocative bid to call for an end to violence in the home.
The charity’s event is being held in light of alarming statistics which show the PSNI receive an emergency call about domestic abuse every 17 minutes and the fact that 32,000 children and young people are living with domestic abuse.
The event will inform participants of the symptoms of domestic abuse, while offering ways to respond safely and what local support services are available for help.
