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One of the key takeaways from a review of a mother's death was that domestic abuse can take many forms - including between child and parent - and that more needs to be done to help islanders spot the signs of coercive control.
While work has been underway to create a new Domestic Abuse Law for several years, Professor Jane Monkcton-Smith's Domestic Homicide Review into Pamela Nisbet's death at the hands of her son in 2019 shows that this needs to be prioritised.
Released today, the report by the Professor of Public Protection, who specialises in homicide, found that Mrs Nisbet had been subjected to “patterns of behaviour that fit the criteria for domestic violence and coercive control”.
It found that more focus was placed on the mental health of Mrs Nisbet’s son - who had various conditions - rather than her safety. This obscured the risks to her.
As well as calling for awareness to be raised among islanders about domestic abuse and coercive control, Professor Monckton-Smith also called for greater promotion of the island’s Independent Domestic Violence Advisor Service (IDVA).
Above all, she said work on the new law - which should include provisions for a “register of serious and repeat offenders” and a specific definition of “coercive control” - must be expedited to better “protect victims and bring perpetrators to justice."
One of the issues mentioned as part of the review was that Mrs Nisbet didn’t recognise herself as a victim of domestic abuse, prompting the Safeguarding Partnership Board to remind islanders that domestic abuse is not always about a relationship between intimate partners.
“Domestic abuse can happen within different relationships,” Sarah Elliott, the Board’s Chair said.
“It is less frequent, about 1 in 10 cases, but abuse can happen within different family members and indeed between young people and their parents.”
Another issue is that of coercive control, which often starts in a way where the victim doesn't realise that they are being abused.
The Safeguarding Partnership Board’s annual domestic campaign in October is due to focus on this.
An online training module with a focus on coercive and controlling behaviour is being developed and will be provided to all Government employees, including police officers for whom it will be mandatory, as well as all the agencies who are part of the SPB.
It is hoped it will help employees understand what domestic abuse is and how they should respond to it.
Many sufferers of domestic abuse may be reluctant to seek help about the abuse itself, but may turn up at hospital for medical help.
An Independent Domestic Abuse Advisor has recently appointed to work at the hospital to help recognise domestic abuse much earlier and assist victims who come there.
The Women’s Refuge has also been delivering the IRIS programme - a specialist training, support and referral programme for General Practices - to local GPs who can make referrals to the charity for support.
In response to the Domestic Homicide Review, Home Affairs Minister Deputy Gregory Guida assured the Domestic Abuse Law is his department’s “top priority”.
He said it is currently in its final drafting stage, and he said he hoped it would be brought to consultation before the end of the year.
Superintendent Alison Fossey, who is at the Head of Uniformed Services, said the police was working on the law as a “priority” and that coercive control was one of its main provisions, as it lies at the “very heart of all domestic abuse”.
She indicated that consultation is still ongoing regarding a register of repeat domestic abuse offenders, which would enable officers to “manage” them better in a similar way in which sex offenders are.
The law will also enable ‘protection notices and orders’, which would give protection to victims and their children by preventing contact, for example, while the police is investigation allegations of abuse.
Deputy Guida said this would allow the police to intervene if anybody is at risk.
As the Chair of the Domestic Abuse Group, the Superintendent also said she was currently writing a new strategy, which draws heavily on the recommendations from the report.
She said the focus would be to allow early identification of domestic abuse so that victims can be referred to other services that can help.
Professor Monckton-Smith suggested that professionals, especially police and Independent Domestic Violence Advisor services could make victims aware of possible risks with coercive controlling patterns.
She also said police could also always consider so-called ‘victimless’ prosecutions and their powers of arrest where behaviours are escalating to the extent they did like in the case of Mrs Nisbet.
However, both the Minister and the Superintendent explained that ‘victimless’ prosecutions, which became possible in the island in 2019, are difficult to bring forward, even though the “whole system is ready to get testimonies."
Superintendent Fossey explained that 65% of domestic abuse victims do not support prosecution, and while the law allows the police and the Law Officers’ Department to pursue a prosecution without a victim coming to Court to give evidence, they are only able to do so if they can prove the victim is refusing to appear out of fear.
“They are not many [victimless prosecutions] at all,” she explained.
“They are quite hard to have because the main factor is the victim is not willing to give evidence through fear and if you can prove that, the court will allow to introduce over evidence, such as body-worn footage, 999 calls or other witnesses.”
She also explained that without the victim’s consent, the police wouldn’t be able to access medical records for evidence of injuries or complaints of coercive behaviour.
The Superintendent said that in the case of Mrs Nisbet, they would not have been able to prosecute Steven as her main motivation for not wanting a prosecution was not fear.
While she said a provision could be made within the new Domestic Abuse Law to relax the rules around ‘victimless’ prosecutions, it would be difficult due to the balance required between the rights of a victim and the rights of the accused.
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