Category: Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs)

Twenty-two year old Alex Skeel was found bruised, bloodied and close to death when discovered by police in the flat he shared with his partner Jordan Worth, the mother of his children. Ms Worth told officers her boyfriend suffered from a medical condition that caused him to have “bouts of self-harm” and had “hurt himself”. ...

The NRL top brass have been taking an increasingly tough stance on players accused of criminal offences in recent times. Now, CEO Todd Greenberg has announced that star player Ben Barba faces a life-long ban from the game after being accused of domestic violence. The story so far In case you missed it, Ben Barba, ...

Last year, 69 women were killed violently across Australia. This brings the murdered women death toll in this country since 2012 to 506, according to Counting the Dead Women Australia project researchers from gender equality group Destroy the Joint. And in the overwhelming majority of these cases, the perpetrators were men who were known to their victims. The ...

Carla Hales was killed with an axe in her home in the Perth suburb of Munster on 28 December last year. The 30-year-old woman was hacked to death by Jesse de Beaux, an unknown assailant, who’d was released from a nearby hospital a day earlier after being a voluntary mental health patient. Ms Hales death brought ...

By Ugur Nedim and Sonia Hickey A Queensland woman has decided to launch a private criminal prosecution against her former partner after police refused to charge him over an incident where he allegedly brought a can of petrol into their home, doused her with petrol and held a lighter at her feet. ‘Dani’ (not her ...

By Zeb Holmes and Ugur Nedim The Fair Work Commission (FWC) introduced unpaid domestic violence leave earlier this year, changing the workplace entitlements of millions of workers on modern awards. From the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2018, these employees were given the opportunity to take up to 5 days of ...

By Sonia Hickey and Ugur Nedim The woman whose address was disclosed by a Queensland police officer to her abusive former partner is fighting the state government in court. Domestic violence victim ‘Julie’ commenced legal proceedings after a policeman accessed her personal details on the police database and provided it to his mate, her former ...

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Currently, self-represented litigants in the Family Court are permitted to cross-examine opponents, even in circumstances where there has been an allegation of domestic violence. However, the Turnbull government has drafted laws aimed at stopping this. Australian attorney general Christian Porter introduced the Family Law Amendment (Family Violence and Cross-examination of ...

Last Sunday, two women were killed in acts of violence perpetrated on opposite sides of the country. At around 4 am that morning, NSW police attended a Griffith residence to find 27-year-old Nicole Wetzler dead in a rear shed on the property. A few hours later 35-year-old Ashley Alchin was arrested and taken to Griffith police station, ...

Statistics reveal that 1 in 3 Australian women experience physical violence over their lifetime. Family violence is being increasingly recognised as a widespread and serious issue in Australia with significant negative social, individual and community impacts. A powerful weapon against family violence is the use of Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs) to protect victims of family ...