Criminal
Charges:
Physical
and sexual assault and threats are crimes. Stalking (repeatedly
harassing or following someone to make them scared for their own
safety) is also a crime.
You can report
violence (for example, assault,
property damage, rape or other
sexual assaults, or stalking) to
the police. If there is enough evidence, police can lay criminal
charges against the violent person. For this, you need to give
them a statement about what happened. If it is a sexual assault,
they may ask you to have a medical examination (you don't have
to have one if you don't want to though).
An Intervention
Order:
You can apply
for a court order which can help protect you from further violence
or abuse. In Victoria, this is called an 'Intervention Order'
(they have different names in other states, for example, in
NSW it's called an 'Apprehended Violence Order', in QLD it's called
a 'Protection Order', in WA, NT and SA it's a 'Restraining Order',
in TAS it's a 'Restraint Order').
You can apply
for an Intervention Order if you have been assaulted, threatened,
harrassed, stalked, or had property damaged, and it is likely
to happen again. The order can prohibit your boyfriend/girlfriend
from harassing, threatening or abusing you, or from coming near
your home, your work, or other places where you need to go. It
is a criminal offence if they disobey the order. In Victoria:
- If you
are under 14, another person can apply for an order on your
behalf (eg; the police, a parent, or any other person with your
parent's consent or with the courts permission).
- If you
are 14 -16 years old, you can take out an order, but the Magistrate
at the court will want to know if you understand what you are
doing, and will decide as to whether your application should
go ahead.
- If you
are over 17, you can apply for one yourself.
Also the
police can apply for an Intervention Order on your behalf (they
can do this with or without your consent).
Ring the
services listed for more information,
or to find out about the law in other States. Or check out the
Lawstuff site (provided
by the National Children's and Youth Law Centre), where
you can email a lawyer for advice about how to use the law in
Australia to protect you from violence.
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