Daughter of man killed by partner hopes campaign will encourage men to seek help

The daughter of a man killed by his partner hopes a new campaign raising awareness of domestic abuse against men will encourage victims to seek help.

Shannon McIlwaine's dad Tony Browne was murdered in 2022.

His partner Wiktoria Maksymowicz stabbed him as he lay sleeping in his bed. In 2024, she was handed a life sentence after pleading guilty to murder.

She will serve at least 14 years in jail.

Figures released as part of the campaign show more than 5,800 domestic abuse crimes against men were recorded by police in Northern Ireland between April 2025 and March 2026.

The campaign is a collaboration between the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Men's Advisory Project.

McIlwaine told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme that she hoped it would help people understand that men can experience domestic violence.

"Every single day I wish that he had just come forward to me and said 'Shannon, this is happening' or went to the police or even another man who he felt he could speak to about it.

"If he had just said to someone it was going on in his life he still would have been here today I think.

"So I'm hoping with this coming forward it will open some people's eyes to realise men can be abused as well, men can be victims of abuse just as much as women can."

McIlwaine said it was "really refreshing" to hear of the campaign, adding that it is "absolutely brilliant that there is starting to be more awareness brought forward for men".

"There is still a big massive stigma attached to male victims of domestic abuse," she said.

The UK legal definition of domestic abuse is any behaviour where two people are aged 16 or over, are personally connected to each other, and the behaviour is abusive. It can be a single incident or a continuous pattern, and it does not require living in the same home or a romantic relationship.

Between April 2025 and March 2026, the PSNI recorded 5,817 domestic abuse crimes against male victims.

Men accounted for 32% of all victims of recorded domestic abuse crimes during that period.

About 19% of crimes against male victims resulted in what police describe as a sanction outcome.

PSNI Det Supt Kerry Brennan said "if you are a man experiencing domestic abuse, you are not weak, and you are not alone".

"Speaking up is not a failure of strength - it's the first act of reclaiming it. Your voice matters just as much as anyone else's. We will listen, and we will act."

The campaign, called "Every Victim Matters", aims to challenge misconceptions around male victims and highlight forms of abuse including coercive control and emotional abuse.

Det Supt Brennan told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme domestic abuse could affect anyone and that abuse against men should not be "minimised or joked about".

"Abuse is abuse. It's not a lesser crime because the victim is male," she said.

"Domestic abuse doesn't wear one face, and it certainly doesn't check your gender before it destroys your confidence, your safety, and your sense of self."

The Men's Advisory Project said it supports more than 1,000 men and boys affected by domestic abuse across Northern Ireland each year.

Its chief executive Rhonda Lusty said many men had lived with "abuse, coercive control, fear and isolation" for a long time before telling someone what was happening to them.

She said domestic abuse could happen to men of any age or background and was "not always physical".

Justice Minister Naomi Long, who funded the campaign, said anyone could become a victim of domestic abuse and men should not feel "ashamed or unable to seek help".

"I am delighted to be able to support this campaign which will help to increase awareness that men are affected by intimate partner abuse, and that they should never feel ashamed or unable to seek help," she said.

"Support is available; speaking up is the first step in the road to recovery."

Details of support for domestic abuse are available at BBC Action Line.