FIRST drafts of new laws regarding emergency barring orders, stalking, and intimate image abuse are expected to be received by the end of this week.
Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat yesterday provided an update on the progress of 77 recommendations made in the Violence Against Women and Girls report.
Published in November 2023, the document recommended that emergency barring order legislation should be introduced in Jersey, and stalking and non-fatal strangulation should be made specific criminal offences.
The independent panel behind the report also called for the criminalisation of different forms of tech-facilitated abuse, such as intimate image abuse and cyberstalking.
Deputy Le Hegarat yesterday confirmed that the first drafts for several legislative changes involving emergency barring orders, stalking, and intimate image abuse are expected by the end of this week.
“The only thing we’re not going to have a draft for by the end of the week is the non-fatal strangulation offence,” added Nathan Fox, Head of Justice Policy.
“That’s not because it’s less important, but it’s a little bit more difficult in Jersey because our legal structure is different.”
He explained that it not yet definite whether non-fatal strangulation will be created as a standalone offence, or added into existing legislation.
Mr Fox said it was the “assumption” that all the legislation changes would be consulted in the usual way.
The Domestic Abuse (Jersey) Law 2022 has previously been criticised for not including non-fatal strangulation.
A local restauranteur was last year convicted of a list of violent offences against two women after a nine-day trial. Gavin Roberts (45) was described as a repeat offender who regularly got drunk and grabbed women around the neck.
One of his victims, Suzie Mahe, said that she was “so ashamed that Jersey doesn’t have the non-fatal strangulation law”.
And Sarah Hamon, who is at the head of the Jersey Domestic Abuse Service, said that the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Law in 2023 was “a missed opportunity” to make non-fatal strangulation a specific offence.
The VAWG report estimated that there are between one and four cases of non-fatal strangulation in Jersey each month, and said that the Jersey’s current legislative framework “does not adequately respond to incidents of non-fatal strangulation”.
The report also highlighted the absence of emergency barring orders for suspected domestic abuse perpetrators as a “significant gap” in the Island’s current legislation.
These legal protections prevent a suspect from returning to the home or contacting the victim while an investigation takes place before charges are filed.
The VAWG report expained: “Emergency barring orders provide a form of protection for victim-survivors following domestic abuse incidents that is more immediate than existing remedies.
“Without them, the threshold at which protections are afforded to victim-survivors is too high.”
Emergency barring orders already exist in England and Wales, where police can issue a 48-hour order preventing a suspected abuser from returning home. Magistrates can then extend the order if necessary.
Early drafts of Jersey’s Domestic Abuse Law included these protections, but consultation with the Island’s courts raised concerns over application – which ultimately resulted in the removal of these orders from the legislation entirely.
