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Women leave violent relationships and try to be safe. It costs them more than they have. Kirsty Johnston reports.
Last Christmas, the man who strangled Chloe * sent her a letter. Not directly, because you are not allowed to contact her, but through a lawyer. The note warned her that he would take her to court to try to lift her protective order against him for the third time.
“I had to sell my car to pay my legal fees,” says Chloe. “The bill was $ 1600, at the worst time of the year. But there was no way she would abandon the order. Never surrender “.
The man was Chloe’s extremely violent ex-partner. She applied for the protection order at the end of their relationship, which came shortly after neighbors called the police because he was strangling her in the driveway. Chloe went into debt to pay it off, but thought that once she had the order, it would be the end.
Instead, he found that it was just the beginning of a cycle. Since then, her ex has tried to take her to court every two years. Even if she’s unsuccessful, Chloe is still forced to seek legal advice and file an affidavit as to why she still needs protection from the state.
“It’s infuriating,” he says. “There is something fundamentally wrong with the system that someone who is a violent criminal can go to court and say ‘this is affecting my life’ and the victim has to pay.”
Orders of protection are generally granted through Family Court. They prohibit an abuser from communicating with their victim and can sometimes restrict gun ownership. If the order is violated, the perpetrator can face up to three years in jail.
The conditions of the order often call for courses against violence. Chloe’s ex has turned six or seven over the years, he says, but still lives in fear of her unpredictable moods.
“He goes from being a nice, sociable and enjoyable day to totally changing the next day,” she says. “When we were together, I could tell by the way she went up the stairs what kind of evening we were going to have.”
Besides physical violence, he controlled everything in the relationship, she says. What she wore, who she was friends with, how often did she see her family. She says he’s still trying to control her.
“He’s always trying to get me to leave the order. She has thrown all the accusations at me, I am constantly waiting for the next, ”she says.
“It’s not fair,” she says. “There are two other women who also have orders against her, and she is the same with them. None of us get it. You are wrong. “
Jemma Cheer / Stuff
Chloe lived with a man who controlled everything, even what she wore.
Nominally, orders of protection are free. In reality, because they require legal advice and help in writing an affidavit, they are expensive. For women who do not qualify for legal aid, and most do not, even simple requests start at $ 1,000. And lawyers say the situation worsens if the defendant objects to the order, with no guarantees that the victim will have. success.
Stuff yesterday highlighted the case of a woman who paid $ 50,000 before giving up. Another paid $ 150,000. Ultimately, she went into hiding instead of continuing to fight in court.
The Law Society has persistently advocated raising the legal aid threshold for applicants for protection orders, saying the current configuration is “prohibitively” low. Some family attorneys argue that there should be no threshold.
“What politicians don’t recognize is that not all abused women are poor,” says Rebecca Holm, an Auckland family lawyer.
“The threshold for legal aid is $ 46,000 if you have two children. Who in Auckland can survive with that? Particularly in the middle of a breakup when you’re trying to find a new home and everything else, let alone pay for a lawyer? “
Holm says there is a lack of recognition about how difficult it is to put together a request for an order.
“These women are traumatized, they forget things, their confidence is not there, he is still in her ear all the time and she is used to doing what he wants because that is how she learned to survive,” says Holm.
“It is awful. There is no way women and children should pay to be safe, but that’s what our society says. “
Women’s Refuge policy advisor Natalie Thorburn says having a cost attached to the orders means that women are being effectively charged to stop male violence.
“Many women don’t even bother to apply,” she says. “They are being asked to sacrifice their financial security for a small gain in physical security and decide that it is not worth it.”
Justice Minister Andrew Little says he is aware of the problem and has committed to reviewing the threshold for legal aid.
“However, cost is only one of the barriers for people to obtain protection orders. Others include complexity, trust and culture. “
Attorney General Jan Logie says the Joint Venture, the government’s new agency on sexual and domestic violence, is working to remove barriers to safety.
He agrees that the current thresholds for legal aid are too low.
“Everyone has the right to access justice and security should not have an economic cost.”
The single-person legal aid threshold was lowered to $ 22,366 a year in 2012 and has since increased to $ 23,820.
The 2012 cuts were part of the cost savings of the then national government, which also included the introduction of flat fees for lawyers.
* Chloe is not her real name. Things cannot identify vulnerable parties in Family Court cases.
