Thousands call for help

Hilary Sidwell from Women's Aid

More than 17,000 women have used a leading support group's help line in the past year.

Many of the callers to the Women's Aid telephone help line in Northern Ireland had suffered harrowing domestic abuse.

The latest figures, released by Women's Aid, also show that nearly 1,000 women have been given a safe haven in the past year.

The news came as Women's Aid marked 25 years of tackling domestic violence.

The organisation said there was still much to do to change people's attitudes.

"All the research that is coming out is showing that one in five boys think it is okay to hit a woman," Hilary Sidwell from Women's Aid said.

"But even more seriously, one in 10 girls think that in certain situations it is okay for a man to hit a woman.

"It never is."