WHAT DOES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCLUDE?
The Domestic Violence Act lists different kinds of domestic violence, including:
The Domestic Violence Act lists different kinds of domestic violence, including:
- physical violence,
- emotional abuse,
- economic abuse,
- sexual abuse,
- harassment, and
- threats of violence and abuse.
You can get a protection order to stop any of these kinds of domestic violence from happening to you. Remember: a protection order is a special kind of interdict or court order to protect you in domestic violence cases.
HOW DO YOU GET A PROTECTION ORDER? GUIDELINES:
Steps for getting a protection order:
1.Going to the nearest court
You can get a protection order from either your nearest Magistrate’s Court or the High Court. For most women, it will be easier to go to the Magistrates’ Court because there are many more of these courts.
You can go to the nearest court to the place where you live or work, or where the abuse took place.
2.Filling in forms
The Clerk of the Court at the Magistrate’s Court (or the Registrar at the High Court) must help you to fill in the right forms and also explain how to get the protection order. You can also take someone with you who can help you to fill in the forms, like a friend or a counsellor. You should also take any evidence of the abuse with you, like a doctor’s note, which records your injuries.
The Clerk of the Court at the Magistrate’s Court (or the Registrar at the High Court) must help you to fill in the right forms and also explain how to get the protection order. You can also take someone with you who can help you to fill in the forms, like a friend or a counsellor. You should also take any evidence of the abuse with you, like a doctor’s note, which records your injuries.
3.The forms go to court
Once you have filled in all the correct forms, the Clerk of the Court will take them to the court.
4.Giving evidence
The court may ask you to give oral evidence (say what happened to you). Although the abuser may be present, he cannot question you directly - only his lawyer, if he has one, may ask you questions.
5.Interim protection order
If the court is satisfied that it seems that you are being abused, it can give an interim (temporary) protection order to stop the abuser’s behaviour – for example: the abuser can be banned from coming to your home. The court will also give a date for you and the abuser to come back to court.
6.Suspended warrant of arrest
When the court gives the order, it will also grant a warrant of arrest for the abuser. The warrant of arrest is suspended (not yet in force), but can come into force if the abuser commits another act of domestic violence.
7.The court decides
You will have to go back to court on the date written in the interim protection order. On that day, the court reads the evidence in your and the abuser’s affidavits. It can also listen to oral evidence.
Then, depending on whether the court believes that you are being abused or not, the court can:
- Make a final (permanent) protection order, or
- Set aside (cancel) the interim protection order.
8.Final protection order
If the court is satisfied, it will make a final protection order for you. Again, it will also order a suspended warrant of arrest for the abuser. If the abuser commits an act of domestic violence again, the police can arrest the abuser.
If the court is satisfied, it will make a final protection order for you. Again, it will also order a suspended warrant of arrest for the abuser. If the abuser commits an act of domestic violence again, the police can arrest the abuser.
GOING TO THE POLICE
Many women who have tried to report domestic violence to the police have had bad experiences with police officers telling them that domestic violence is a private affair. The Domestic Violence Act now says police must help women – they may not turn women away without giving them help.
GUIDELINES
What the police must do to help you:
•Give you information about how to get a protection order.
•Take you and your children to a place of safety, including a shelter, or a friend or family member’s house.
•Take you and your children to a doctor if you need medical help.
•Help you make a criminal charge against the abuser if you want to do this.
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