Concern non-fatal strangulation not covered in domestic abuse law as reports rise

Tuesday 02 May 2023

Jersey should have a specific offence for “non-fatal strangulation” in its new domestic abuse law, according to the Women’s Refuge, which says it is aware of increasing reports of it locally.

As of last year, abusers who strangle their partners in an attempt to control or induce fear in the UK can face up to five years behind bars under the Domestic Abuse Act.

The UK Government pointed out at the time that studies had shown that victims are seven times more likely to be murdered by their partner if there had been non-fatal strangulation beforehand.

However, this specific offence is not included in Jersey’s new Domestic Abuse Law, which is set to come into force on 20 June. 

It is one of a number of “gaps” that the Jersey Women’s Refuge has identified - although Home Affairs Minister Deputy Helen Miles has said the law could be “revisited” once it comes into force.

A report setting out the scope of the new legislation says it "will create a new criminal offence of domestic abuse including coercive and controlling behaviour" adding: "Ultimately, the law sets out new offences and fills the gaps in the current legislation to ensure that the police and the courts have the relevant tools to safeguard and support our victims."

It will also allow the courts to issue domestic-abuse protection orders (DAPOs) to try to prevent a person convicted of the crime or a similar offence from committing further domestic abuse and require them to provide information to the police.

Offenders, or those who fail to comply with the DAPO, could be jailed for up to five years or fined.

This final step in approving the law comes after a delay of over a year since the legislation was first approved in April 2022.

Questioned about the legislation at a Scrutiny Panel hearing last Thursday, Deputy Miles said: "In my view, this has taken too long. I'm pleased that by the summer, we will have given the police force the tools to crack down on domestic abuse in a very constructive way."

Pictured: Deputy Miles said the Domestic Abuse Law had taken "too long" to come into force after being approved in April 2022.

However, Jersey Women's Refuge (JWR) recently raised concerns that, unlike in the UK, the legislation still does not cover areas such as financial and economic controlling behaviour.

Lisa Leventhal, the organisation's chief executive, said: "Under the new law, it is an offence for someone to be controlling and coercive to their partners. It may be that the law officers view financial and economic control under that general offence but, in the UK, they have that as a specific offence.

"From the feedback, the reason [it hasn't been listed separately here] is that they feel it's too difficult an offence to prove."

JWR also considers "non-fatal strangulation" as an offence missing from the law, which "has awful physical and emotional consequence to women. We are hearing about more cases of that locally, and that's why it needs to be addressed."

Ms Leventhal added: "It is still a massive step for us to have a Domestic Abuse Law coming in, but we would want it to come in actually covering all the areas that we see, and that's where the taskforce is so important, because it's flagging up all the areas that are missing."

Deputy Miles has now responded. She said: "There's two schools of thought around economic crime and that actually the definition of coercive control within the domestic abuse law may well be sufficient to encompass any form of economic control. We won't know that until we start using it and the lawyers have an opportunity to see how that law is working."

She added that strangulation might need to "sit somewhere else."

LISTEN: Jersey Women's Refuge recently celebrated its 35th anniversary – to mark the occasion, Express spoke to its founder, Rozelle Sutherland, for the Bailiwick Podcast.

"These are areas that the [violence against women and girls] taskforce will be looking at, and I will carefully be considering their recommendations about how to bring that forward."

Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPN) was in the first draft of the law. This was taken out following consultation, which resulted in DAPOs instead. These are issued by the court post-conviction, instead of before.

Deputy Miles said: "We are expecting to examine that in particular and we will revisit whether we want to put those notices back in."

During the Scrutiny hearing, Deputy Miles also provided an update on the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce – which was formed in October 2022. One of its aims is to examine the existing legal framework, service and support provision in relation to gender-based violence.

The report, with recommendations for government, was initially intended to be presented in April. However, Deputy Miles said the uptake of the public survey was slow at first, so that period of public engagement was extended and the report would be presented in July.

In the end, the general public survey received 326 responses, the victims testimony response had 28 submissions and the heat map had 279 responses.

A survey circulated around schools had 1,789 survey responses.

There were 12 focus groups with secondary schools and youth associations, as well as focus groups with survivors. Deputy Miles said: "It was well worth expending that engagement time and having a rethink about how we could best engage with the majority of people. We have done a very comprehensive job."

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JWR recently launched an appeal to raise £130,000 ahead of a move to an expanded safe house which will allow them to accommodate women and children with more "diverse needs".

You can donate to the appeal by clicking HERE.

GET SUPPORT...

Anyone seeking support can call JWR's helpline on 0800 735 6836. They can also email hello@jerseywomensrefuge.org.