Domestic Abuse Victims Face Further Abuse in British Courts
It’s hard not to have noticed that domestic abuse has had more publicity in recent times, but sadly it’s a case of a lot of talk but no action. In 2021, during the middle of a pandemic, new guidance was released to the magistrate courts for when they are dealing with cases of domestic abuse. Practice Direction 12J was written in order to stop abusers using court as an extension of their abuse. Now magistrates were told to order a fact finding hearing (officially known as a Finding of Fact Hearing) where domestic abuse may have a bearing on the outcome of a case involving children.
The issue is that magistrates just aren’t trained on the law and not only that, any mistakes they make go unnoticed in the secret world of cases that involve children. Family court is different to any other court, nobody is allowed to say anything about what goes on behind those closed doors. I am a McKenzie Friend and I support victims of domestic abuse in court, but just like the solicitors, the barristers and others involved in the case, we have a gag around our mouths. So when we spot a mistake we can appeal, but nothing happens to the magistrates that make the mistakes. I cannot talk about specific cases but I am constantly seeing cases where Practice Direction 12J and the Domestic Abuse Act are just not being followed properly. I’m there to comfort mums and dads who’ve spent years being controlled, bullied, beaten and put down, I have to try and explain what went wrong, and why some random people have just taken their children away, or allowed an abuser to leave court laughing because the magistrates have basically told them that what they did was ok because, “It was in the past”. I’ve had to comfort those who’ve been told to “Park it” or “leave it and look to the future.” I’ve heard it all and as a survivor of domestic abuse myself, it stings, it stings really badly.
It’s clear in the law that a child is a victim of domestic abuse if they’ve witnessed it, they don’t have to have been abused directly, but if they’ve seen a mother cowering in the corner, scared for her life as her partner shouts at her or hits her. I’ve used an example of a woman being abused there, but let me tell you that abuse of men by women is also rife. A child seeing such scenes will be mentally scarred, trust me because I’ve witnessed first hand a child watch a mother rip up a special fathers day gift, hand prints of all my children (2 of mine and 3 of hers) with lovely messages, as she dumped that in a bin whilst shouting at me her eldest ran to the bin to get it back out, was crying and telling his mum to stop. Do you really believe that he wouldn’t of been affected by that? So when you have piles of evidence of domestic abuse, when CAFCASS say that the domestic abuse is likely to affect the courts decision, why oh why can a court just ignore that, ignore the fact that the victim has special measures, has legal aid because of the abuse and basically is in court as a shivering wreck.
The magistrates who know nothing about the law are making these life changing decisions. They are making decisions that will affect a child for life, because they haven’t applied Practice Direction 12J properly. People talk about the bad things the government have done, but they don’t talk about the good things, like how they’ve added to the Domestic Abuse Act to try and protect children. I wish they would talk more about it, because then maybe the magistrates would take the time to read about it, learn about it. There’s also the two biggest errors that keep on being made by magistrates, when the initial hearing has happened and you see that Practice Direction 12J has been mentioned and skirted around, just so they can almost pretend they’ve followed it, on many occasions they fail to either record their reasons for not ordering a Finding of Fact Hearing and they nobody tells you that you have only 7 days to appeal this first hearing. In my opinion, this is disgraceful and there is absolutely no excuse. Why is it missing on so many court orders? What are they trying to avoid? Let’s briefly mention Practice Direction 12J because at the beginning of the case they don’t really understand what it is, or if they do, they may not know they can appeal and we won’t have to deal with that. The question is; Do the magistrates know what they are doing? Do the magistrates not know themselves how the appeal system works. This sadly ruins cases, and by doing that they on occasion ruin children’s lives. All we are asking is for the legal advisors present at the hearing to ensure it’s dealt with properly, make sure the parents know they have 7 days to appeal the first hearing, instead of the 21 for the final hearing. It’s a Legal Advisor’s job I’m afraid, so there’s no excuse. It’s a minefield, someone is getting it very wrong, I’m not looking for a blame game, but I am looking for justice.
Is it any good me as a moaning journalist pointing this out? No, so what can be done? If you’ve been a victim of domestic abuse and your child has been affected, then point out Practice Direction 12J at the beginning, almost force them to read it and put it into action. I can’t change it, I will go on being a McKenzie Friend specialising in helping victims of domestic abuse, I only deal in one case at a time but you can reach me via my website www.mfriend.co.uk I also recommend following and reading what Dr Charlotte Proudman has to say on Twitter especially www.twitter.com/DrProudman you can also follow me www.twitter.com/MFriendPW
Together we can change things, together we have more power and our voices will be heard. It may be closed court, but we can point out the mistakes being made and try to make a change, this can be done without mentioning cases or individuals. This is a pandemic of something quite different, it’s a pandemic where children’s lives are being ruined, the worst thing is there is no vaccination, if anything it’s the power of all of us that becomes the vaccine. Prayers and love to all the genuine kind mums and dads who are being punished by a poor system……the abuse goes on!
