Glasgow Times investigates women's safety in our new series
The Scottish increase for the same period is 60%.
In the same period, reports of sexual assault have gone up from 619 to 800.
British Transport Police meanwhile have also reported an increase in incidents of Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls (VIAWG).
Between January 1 and July 31 2024, there were 47 incidents in Glasgow, while for the same period this year there have been 50 incidents.
While this paints a concerning picture, we have spoken to Police Scotland and British Transport Police to put these figures into context and explain the rise, while also finding out what is being done to tackle it.
We have also spoken to police about whether there possible is misinformation being spread on social media, creating an idea that Glasgow is less safe for women and girls than it really is.
It comes after there was a rise in social media posts earlier this year about women being following in the city, but do police stats support this?
We have spoken to Govan Law Centre who have asked Glasgow City Council to reconsider allowing a women-only taxi firm to be licensed while a victim who was sexually assaulted by a taxi driver has spoke to us about why they think one should be allowed.
The Glasgow Times has also spoken to a organisations helping women to feel empowered and safe in the city, including one which runs women's only self defence classes.
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Western Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Father who stepped into path of train carrying young son jailed for 10 years
Frederick Danquah, 28, stepped in front of a train while holding his son after a relationship breakdown with the child's mother. Both the child and Danquah were injured in the incident at Garrowhill railway station in Glasgow's east end on July 2, 2023. Danquah denied attempted murder and another charge of culpable and reckless conduct, regarding another incident on the same date, stating his mental condition as a defence, but he was convicted by a jury at the High Court in Glasgow last month. At the same court on Wednesday, the judge said the 'harm was of the greatest kind' and sentenced Danquah to 10 years in prison. He also imposed a non-harassment order until the child is 18. The court heard that earlier that day, Danquah tried to climb over a footbridge above the M8 in Glasgow with his son on his shoulders, after arguing with his ex-partner who told him she had 'moved on'. After posting a suicidal message on Facebook, he prepared a 'contingency plan' including a note with contact details, the court heard. Danquah collected the child from relatives and took him into Glasgow city centre and met his sister's partner, before he attempted to climb the bridge over the M8. He was spotted by police but 'reassured them', the court heard, before he travelled to Garrowhill station with the child and made an attempt on their lives. British Transport Police said Danquah sustained a broken jaw and fracture to his neck, while his son suffered cuts and bruises but no serious injuries, and the child was discharged from hospital two days later. Sentencing, Judge Tony Kelly said: 'You went to the platform, picked up your son and walked into the path of a train. You suffered injuries and your son was injured. 'To seek to take the life of your son over some hours is great criminality. I have no doubt about your intentions. You meant to have his mother attend his funeral. It is clear you were most affected by the end of your relationship. 'She moved on, it's clear you felt unable to do so. She told you she had moved on. 'You were intent on taking your own life on July 2, 2023. There were opportunities to place your son in the care of others, instead you took him with you.' He said a train driver 'saw you step in the path of a train' and people involved in the rescue were in 'various stages of upset'. Frederick Danquah was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow (PA) Danquah's ex-partner suffered from anxiety and had given evidence about seeing her son in hospital with severe bruising, the court heard. Judge Kelly added: 'You considered taking the life of a two-year-old. You sought to bring about for your partner the death of her son. You require to be punished.' The court heard Danquah had no previous convictions and was involved in a Ghanian community group. Danquah made further attempts on his life including in December 2023, the court heard. Defending, Gary Allan said it was a 'horrible miracle' and Danquah was receiving psychiatric help since a 'one-off horror story took place at his own hand'. Mr Allan said Danquah's ex-partner had written to the judge to offer a 'substantial degree of support', including 'confirmation of his relationship with his child' and 'a suggestion of some kind of disbelief that he could have done this', the court heard. He added: 'The verdict of the jury was that the mental condition of the accused was not such that the statutory defence was made out. What the jury didn't do was say that he wasn't suffering from some kind of depressive condition.' Mr Allan said Danquah had been 'beaten up by other prisoners', and jail 'will be living nightmare for him'. He urged the judge not to impose a non-harassment order, saying it would 'sever the relationship' with the child.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Four men charged after suspected knife attack in Reading
Four men have been charged by police after three men were hospitalised following a suspected knife attack in Reading town centre.A man in his late teens and two others in their 20s and 30s were injured during the incident in St Mary's Butts at about 03:25 BST on Sunday. They have all since left Kirby, 34, of Reading, Thomas Latimer, 37, of Shinfield, and Khari Nelson, 28, of Calcot, were charged with one count of affray on Tuesday. Ashley Koroma, 19, also of Shinfield, was charged with one count of affray on four were remanded in custody and are due to appear at Reading Magistrates' Court later. Another two men, 27 and 34 respectively, both from Reading, who were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder have been bailed until 1 November. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘A whole spectrum of hatred': women face increased violence in Milei's Argentina as rights are eroded
In the week before her murder, Fernanda Soledad Yramain lay awake at night listening as a motorbike circled the house where she was hiding. 'She kept saying 'it's him',' remembers Daniella Viscarra, Soledad's sister-in-law with whom she had sought refuge in the Tucumán countryside. 'She was scared all of the time.' A month earlier, in September 2024, 29-year-old Soledad had ended a relationship with her boyfriend, Francisco Timoteo Saldaño. They had been together since she was 14 and he was 35, and shared three children. In the final year of their relationship, Saldaño had turned violent. 'She started coming round with bruises on her arms, crying. He held a knife to her throat and said he would kill her,' says Sandra Yramain, Soledad's aunt. Together, Sandra and Soledad went to the police station to request protection. 'They said that 'these things take time',' Sandra says. 'But nobody ever called.' Over the ensuing week, Soledad returned to the police station three more times. 'She was certain he would kill her,' says Daniella. 'So she kept trying.' Less than a day after her fourth – and final – visit to beg the police to protect her, Saldaño stabbed Soledad to death with a butcher's knife, before killing himself. 'Soledad did everything she was meant to do,' says Sandra. 'But, because the police did not care, she was cut in half.' We are living with a global femicide crisis across the world today, with a woman or girl killed by their partner or a close relative every 10 minutes, according to the UN. The 'She counts' series will report on stories behind this epidemic. While Argentina was once celebrated as a bastion for women's rights in Latin America, now, amid a rise in populism under far-right leader Javier Milei, protections for women are quickly being eroded. Women's rights groups warn that more women like Soledad could die as a result. Soon after taking power in December 2023, Milei dissolved the undersecretariat for protection against gender violence and closed the ministry of women. 'For the first time in nearly 40 years, Argentina has no dedicated institution to prevent, punish and eradicate gender-based violence,' says Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina. The administration has also slashed funding for programmes aimed at combating gender violence. The Acompañar programme, which provided financial and psychological assistance for victims of gender-based violence, has been drastically defunded, while the 144 emergency hotline lost 42% of its staff by July 2024. 'The government is turning its back on women facing violence,' says Belski. In November, Argentina was the only country to vote against a UN general assembly resolution to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls. Two months later, Milei's administration went further, pledging to strike the aggravating factor of femicide, defined as when a woman dies at the hands of a man on the basis of her gender, from the penal code – a move that drew swift condemnation from human rights groups. Belski says removing the legal definition would 'weaken the state's ability to prevent and punish such crimes'. Now, human rights experts warn that Milei's rhetoric is gaining traction nationwide. In Tucumán, a conservative province, lawyers and advocates say that legal protections for women are already being dismantled. 'Tucumán is one of the places where the situation is worsening,' says Myriam Bregman, a socialist leader. 'It follows the political line of the national government, of cutting women's rights protection programmes, which were already very scarce.' Soledad Deza, the Tucumán lawyer supporting Yramain's family and the president of Fundación Mujeres Por Mujeres (Women for Women Foundation), shared data showing a sharp drop in court-issued protection orders since Milei took office. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion Between January and September 2024, according to information obtained from the authorities by Deza and shared with the Guardian, family courts in Tucumán issued 4,856 protection orders, while criminal courts issued 754. By comparison, across the whole of 2023, those figures were 7,549 and 2,448 respectively. Deza says that women in the province have struggled to access support because of funding cuts, and that the justice system is failing to investigate their reports. Law enforcement agencies have also been slow to respond, says Sofia Quiroga, of international women's rights organisation Equality Now. 'Worryingly, the police in Tucumán have stopped investigating why protection orders are needed in the first place,' she says. Luciana Belén Gramaglio, a feminist lawyer from Tucumán, says that the provincial government had embraced, 'the regressive and stifling policies promoted by Milei'. At the start of 2025, she says, the Tucumán government reduced the number of prosecutorial offices dedicated to investigating cases of gender-based violence and sexual abuse from seven to four. Gramaglio suggests almost half of the cases that enter the judicial system are linked to violence against women. 'How then, is the reduction in prosecutorial offices justified?' The weekend that Soledad was killed, two other women in the Tucumán province were murdered; both cases officially classified as femicides. Official data from the National Ombudsman's office found that 295 cases of femicide were reported nationally between 1 January and 31 December 2024, or one every 30 hours. The MuMaLá women's organisation reported a 15% increase in femicides in the first four months of 2025, compared with the same period a year earlier. Lawyers and advocates also warn of a growing narrative that women are fabricating claims of gender-based violence. In 2024, senator Carolina Losada, with the support of national justice minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, introduced a bill to increase penalties for false accusations of gender-based violence. 'The credibility of the victims is being challenged by the narratives of the Milei administration. These narratives have unlocked a whole spectrum of hatred and obstacles,' says Deza. 'This is simply an indirect threat, to discourage women from reporting crimes.' Mariela Labozzetta, head of the specialised prosecutorial unit on violence against women, says that despite funding cuts, the justice system and the public prosecutor's offices across Argentina continue to function. But, she adds that 'to prevent the risks faced by victims from worsening, support programmes are necessary, and these have been eliminated'. Deza says that because Argentina 'has stripped away gender violence prevention programmes' women are left with little recourse but to remain 'hypervigilant'. She has filed a complaint against the police in Tucumán regarding Soledad's case, and hopes that the criminal justice system investigates why her calls for help went unanswered. The Tucumán state and police did not reply to requests for comment, nor did the Milei administration. For Soledad's family, the government's proposal to eliminate femicide from the penal code came as a fresh shock. 'I only hope that her death was not in vain,' says Sandra. 'And that no other woman is killed because the authorities didn't take control.'
