Domestic Violence Center to Open in Orchard Park
 
January 26, 2011
Sharon Osorio
WBFO News

BUFFALO, NY (WBFO) - As the trial of Muzzammil Hassan continues, the Family Justice Center in Downtown Buffalo continues to offer what's considered "one stop shop" resources for women trying to escape domestic violence. Coming soon, a satellite office will open in Orchard Park, the town where Aasiya Hassan lived and died.

"On February 12, which is the 2nd anniversary of the death of Aasiya Hassan, we're proud to say we'll be clipping the ribbon in Orchard Park on the first Family Justice Center satellite (office) so we can offer everything we do downtown to our southtowns potential clients," says Mary Murphy, executive director of the Family Justice Center.

Murphy was the town supervisor in Orchard Park when Aasiya Hassan was killed. After her death, her husband walked into the Orchard Park Police Department to announce he had killed his wife.

Testimony of alleged violence and threats made to Aasiya by her husband are pouring out in his murder trial. While Mr. Hassan says it was he who was the victim of his wife, Aasiya's death has struck a chord with many people, and has prompted a call to action.

Murphy says that about a year ago, a group of pastors from Orchard Park called the Park Parsons visited the FJC. She says the pastors had known Aasiya and had hosted a memorial mass for her. She says as the group discussed the issue of domestic violence, they realized that the problem was hitting home in their own congregations.

"They came to the FJC and said, we are seeing it. It is alive and well in OP,'" Murphy recalls. "Domestic violence knows no barriers. It doesn't stop because you have a certain level of education or you make a certain income or you're a certain this or a certain that."

The pastors' group is taking the lead role in raising money for the center and supplying the volunteers to run it. At both locations, services will be free to its clients, and supported by donations and government agencies.

The Family Justice Center satellite office in Orchard Park will be open three days a week. The office on Main Street in Downtown Buffalo is open five days a week.