West­min James and Mel­lis­sa Mendez

Do­mes­tic vi­o­lence un­der the Do­mes­tic Vi­o­lence Act, Chap 45: 56, is the phys­i­cal, sex­u­al, emo­tion­al or psy­cho­log­i­cal or fi­nan­cial abuse com­mit­ted by a per­son against a spouse, child, any oth­er per­son who is a mem­ber of the house­hold, or a de­pen­dant. What is a pro­tec­tion or­der and what can a pro­tec­tion or­der do? A pro­tec­tion or­der is an or­der of the court pre­vent­ing an abuser from en­gag­ing or threat­en­ing to en­gage in con­duct which would con­sti­tute do­mes­tic vi­o­lence to­wards the ap­pli­cant, or a child of the ap­pli­cant, or a de­pen­dant.

1. The pro­tec­tion or­der can pre­vent an abuser from be­ing in a cer­tain place, such as the ap­pli­cant's res­i­dence, neigh­bour­hood, busi­ness, school or work­place; en­gag­ing in di­rect or in­di­rect com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the ap­pli­cant, eg tele­phone calls, e-mails or let­ters; ap­proach­ing the ap­pli­cant with­in a spec­i­fied dis­tance; or caus­ing or en­cour­ag­ing an­oth­er per­son to do the above.

2. The or­der can al­so force the abuser to re­turn the ap­pli­cant's prop­er­ty; pay com­pen­sa­tion for mon­e­tary loss in­curred by an ap­pli­cant as a di­rect re­sult of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence, such as med­ical ex­pens­es, den­tal ex­pens­es, etc; pay in­ter­im main­te­nance for the ap­pli­cant and/or a child; va­cate any place or res­i­dence, even if owned or rent­ed by the abuser; give up to the po­lice any firearm li­cence, firearm or oth­er weapon which he may have; pay or con­tin­ue to pay the rent or mort­gage for the ap­pli­cant's premis­es; en­sure that rea­son­able care is pro­vid­ed in re­spect of a child or de­pen­dant per­son, or ap­pli­cant or both; re­ceive pro­fes­sion­al coun­selling or ther­a­py; or any oth­er such pro­hi­bi­tions and di­rec­tions as con­sent­ed to by the ap­pli­cant or re­spon­dent, or both.

Who can ap­ply for a pro­tec­tion or­der? An ap­pli­ca­tion for a pro­tec­tion or­der may be made by:

Spouse

A spouse in­cludes:

1. A per­son mar­ried to the abuser.

2. A per­son who was for­mer­ly mar­ried to the abuser.

3. A per­son in a com­mon-law re­la­tion­ship with the abuser.

4. A per­son who has a child with the abuser.

5. A per­son in a vis­it­ing re­la­tion­ship with the abuser for more than 12 months.

6. A mem­ber of the house­hold.

7. Any mem­ber of the house­hold of the spouse or the abuser, ei­ther on their own be­half, or on be­half of any oth­er mem­ber of the house­hold.

Child

This is a per­son who is un­der the age of 18 years, and in­cludes the ap­pli­cant's or the abuser's child, stepchild, adopt­ed child, or a child who is treat­ed as a child of the fam­i­ly, eg, a niece or nephew who is a mem­ber of the house­hold. A child can ap­ply through a per­son who nor­mal­ly re­sides with the child, a par­ent or guardian, po­lice of­fi­cer, pro­ba­tion of­fi­cer or ap­proved so­cial work­er.

A de­pen­dant

This is a per­son who is over the age of 18 years, but be­cause of phys­i­cal or men­tal dis­abil­i­ty, age or in­fir­mi­ty, is re­liant on ei­ther the ap­pli­cant or re­spon­dent for their wel­fare. A par­ent or sib­ling of the spouse who is not a mem­ber of the house­hold. A per­son who has a child in com­mon with the abuser.

How to ap­ply for a pro­tec­tion or­der?

Go to a Clerk/Jus­tice of Peace at the Mag­is­trates' Court in your dis­trict or where the in­ci­dent oc­curred. The Clerk/Jus­tice of the Peace will de­ter­mine whether you qual­i­fy for a pro­tec­tion or­der, and will fix a date and is­sue the sum­mons for a court ap­pear­ance be­fore a mag­is­trate which must be served on the abuser by the lo­cal po­lice. When par­ties ap­pear in court on the date giv­en by the Clerk/Jus­tice of the Peace for the hear­ing, the mag­is­trate can hear the mat­ter in emer­gency sit­u­a­tions or set a date for hear­ing of the mat­ter.

In cas­es of emer­gen­cies, or where a life is threat­ened, a mag­is­trate may grant an in­ter­im pro­tec­tion or­der un­til the tri­al of the mat­ter. If a pro­tec­tion or­der is grant­ed, a copy of the pro­tec­tion or­der would be giv­en to you, which you should keep on you at all times, and to the abuser, and a copy would be giv­en to you to give to the po­lice in your dis­trict. This ar­ti­cle sets out gen­er­al guide­lines. All le­gal rules have ex­cep­tions and vari­a­tions. How the law ap­plies to you de­pends on the facts of your case.

This col­umn is an ini­tia­tive of the Trinidad Guardian and the Law As­so­ci­a­tion, with as­sis­tance from stu­dents of the Hugh Wood­ing Law School.