Last updated on August 18th, 2015 at 03:20 pm
Many people who suffer from psychological violence don’t actually realise that they are being abused. A member of our family law team dealt with one such case recently.
At the start of their marriage, our client’s husband was very subtle in his attempts to control and manipulate her financially, and through the children. As time went on she realised that he had begun to dictate her every move and action, which eventually led to him not allowing her out at all. She gave up her work and he alienated her from friends and family so she had no one to turn to. She didn’t realise at all that she was being subjected to domestic abuse: there was never any physical violence, but he emotionally abused her by calling her names and belittling her to the extent she had no self-esteem and no confidence. She was so low and so much under his control that she felt she had no way out at all. Things came to a head when he began to turn on the eldest child and it became clear to the client that her husband intended to control the children in the same way as he controlled her. She saw an advertisement for a charity that helps people in her situation, and so, managing to get away whilst the husband was at work, she called the charity and they put her in touch with Graysons WE, where specialists here talked her through the options and applied for non-molestation and occupation orders. The day the application was made she left the family home and went to stay with her sister. The charity helped her to rebuild ties with her family and Graysons WE got the orders she needed so she could move back in with the children.
Domestic abuse is often seen as a ‘class’ issue: only restricted to the poorer in society, but this simply isn’t true. It affects women of all ages, classes and backgrounds, it isn’t discriminative and it isn’t restricted to physical violence. Last year the government changed the definition of domestic violence to include ‘coercive control’ and to include people aged from 16 years. Whilst that isn’t a legal definition, it is used by government departments, the police and immigration bodies etc. and the government is now considering the call to make psychological abuse a crime – let’s hope it speeds up its decision so that clients like Leanne’s can quickly get the same redress as those who have been physically assaulted.
For further information or assistance on any issue relating to domestic violence or abuse, please contact our award winning family team for quick, confidential advice – and don’t forget, legal aid is still available for domestic violence cases.
