South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

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Today's News from the Office of the Attorney General

Silent Witness Ceremony Honored 2007 Victims of Fatal Domestic Violence

Ceremony Held On First Monday Of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Columbia, SC – Attorney General Henry McMaster led participants through the annual Silent Witness Domestic Violence ceremony that was held today on the South steps of the State House in Columbia.

The ceremony marked the first week of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

During the solemn ceremony, Attorney General McMaster called the names of twenty-eight (28) women and four (4) men from across the state who lost their lives as the result of domestic violence in the previous year, including an additional thirty-third (33rd) silhouette representing the potential unknown victims.

Victims’ family members, friends, or volunteers carried a life-sized silhouette representing the victim to the State House steps as a bell was rung for each victim.

“This is a sad and solemn occasion to commemorate the lives of women and men which were lost to domestic violence,” said McMaster. “We must remain focused in our efforts to break this tragic cycle of violence for all the people of our state, especially the children.”

Domestic violence survivors, officials and victims’ advocates made special remarks to highlight the problem of violence against women.

A statistical breakdown for each county is available at http://www.scattorneygeneral.com/fraud/cdv/index.html .

The Silent Witness ceremony will be available in its entirety online at http://www.myetv.org/.