There are many offences that fall within the category of ‘domestic violence’ in South Australia.
Some domestic violence offences include:
- Aggravated assault
- Assault causing harm
- Intentionally causing harm
- Unlawful choking or strangulation
- Stalking
- Breach of Intervention Order
When an offence (like an assault) is committed within the context of a relationship or against a person with whom the offender was formerly in a relationship, the offence becomes aggravated. When an offence has an aggravating feature, like being committed within a relationship, the maximum penalty for that offence increases. The maximum penalty for all of the above offences includes imprisonment.
When a person is charged with a domestic violence offence, an Interim Intervention Order is generally also imposed. This is for the protection of the ‘Protected Person’ (being the victim in the related offence). Such an order will generally involve conditions on the defendant such as:
- Not to assault, threaten, harass or intimidate the Protected Person
- Not to contact the Protected Person
- Not to approach within a certain distance of the Protected Person (often 50 or 100 metres)
- Not to follow or keep the Protected Person under surveillance
- Not to post online or social media about the Protected Person
- Not to attend at the Protected Person’s home or workplace
It is important to remember that the obligation of complying with the conditions of an Intervention Order is on the defendant only. If the Protected Person consents to the defendant breaching the Intervention Order, for example by contacting them, the defendant has still breached the Intervention Order. That the Protected Person consented is not a defence to a charge of contravening an Intervention Order.
A person charged with domestic violence offending is also likely to be a ‘prescribed applicant’ for the purposes of bail. This means that, instead of it being presumed that the person will be granted bail, the person must establish special circumstances for the Court to consider granting bail. If the Court does consider granting bail to an alleged domestic violence offender, it is generally on home detention conditions (and in some cases can only be on home detention conditions). Home detention bail is the strictest form of bail and requires the defendant to wear an ankle monitor and only to leave the house with permission of the Department of Corrections.
All in all, domestic violence offences are serious. It is imperative to get legal advice from an experienced criminal lawyer if you are facing any form of domestic violence charge.
