South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts8—Meaning of abuse—domestic and non-domestic
(1) "Abuse" may take
many forms including physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or economic
abuse.
(2) An act is an
"act of abuse" against a person if it results in or is intended to result
in—
(a)
physical injury; or
(b)
emotional or psychological harm; or
(c) an
unreasonable and non-consensual denial of financial, social or personal
autonomy; or
(d)
damage to property in the ownership or possession of the person or used or
otherwise enjoyed by the person.
(3) "Emotional or
psychological harm includes—
(a)
mental illness; and
(b)
nervous shock; and
(c)
distress, anxiety, or fear, that is more than trivial.
(4) Emotional or
psychological harm—examples
Without limiting subsection (2)(b), an act of abuse against a person
resulting in emotional or psychological harm may be comprised of any of the
following:
(a)
sexually assaulting the person or engaging in behaviour designed to coerce the
person to engage in sexual activity;
(b)
unlawfully depriving the person of his or her liberty;
(c)
driving a vehicle in a reckless or dangerous manner while the person is a
passenger in the vehicle;
(d)
causing the death of, or injury to, an animal;
(e)
following the person;
(f)
loitering outside the place of residence of the person or some other place
frequented by the person;
(g)
entering or interfering with property in the possession of the person;
(h)
giving or sending offensive material to the person, or leaving
offensive material where it will be found by, given to or brought to the
attention of the person;
(i)
publishing or transmitting offensive material by means of
the Internet or some other form of electronic communication in such a way that
the offensive material will be found by, or brought to the attention of, the
person;
(j)
communicating with the person, or to others about the person, by way of mail,
telephone (including associated technology), fax or the Internet or some other
form of electronic communication in a manner that could reasonably be expected
to cause emotional or psychological harm to the person;
(k)
keeping the person under surveillance;
(l)
directing racial or other derogatory taunts at the person;
(m)
threatening to withhold the person's medication or prevent the person
accessing necessary medical equipment or treatment;
(n)
threatening to institutionalise the person;
(o)
threatening to withdraw care on which the person is dependent;
(oa)
forcing the person to marry another person;
(ob)
preventing the person from entering the person's place of residence;
(oc)
taking an invasive image (within the meaning of Part 5A of the
Summary Offences Act 1953 ) of the person and threatening to distribute
the image without the person's consent;
(od)
coercing a person to terminate a pregnancy;
(oe)
coercing a person to not terminate a pregnancy;
(p)
otherwise threatening to cause the person physical injury, emotional or
psychological harm or an unreasonable and non-consensual denial of financial,
social or domestic autonomy or to cause damage to property in the ownership or
possession of the person or used or otherwise enjoyed by the person.
(5) Unreasonable and
non-consensual denial of financial, social or personal autonomy—examples
Without limiting subsection (2)(c), an act of abuse against a person
resulting in an unreasonable and non-consensual denial of financial, social or
personal autonomy may be comprised of any of the following:
(a)
denying the person the financial autonomy that the person would have had but
for the act of abuse;
(b)
withholding the financial support necessary for meeting the reasonable living
expenses of the person (or any other person living with, or dependent on, the
person) in circumstances in which the person is dependent on the financial
support to meet those living expenses;
(c)
without lawful excuse, preventing the person from having access to joint
financial assets for the purposes of meeting normal household expenses;
(d)
preventing the person from seeking or keeping employment;
(e)
causing the person through coercion or deception to—
(i)
relinquish control over assets or income; or
(ii)
claim social security payments; or
(iii)
sign a power of attorney enabling the person's finances
to be managed by another person; or
(iv)
sign a contract for the purchase of goods or services; or
(v)
sign a contract for the provision of finance; or
(vi)
sign a contract of guarantee; or
(vii)
sign any legal document for the establishment or
operation of a business;
(f)
without permission, removing or keeping property that is in the ownership or
possession of the person or used or otherwise enjoyed by the person;
(g)
disposing of property owned by the person, or owned jointly with the person,
against the person's wishes and without lawful excuse;
(h)
preventing the person from making or keeping connections with the person's
family, friends or cultural group, from participating in cultural or spiritual
ceremonies or practices, or from expressing the person's cultural identity;
(i)
exercising an unreasonable level of control and
domination over the daily life of the person.
(6) If a defendant
commits an act of abuse against a person, or threatens to do so, in order to
cause emotional or psychological harm to another person or to deny another
person financial, social or personal autonomy, the defendant commits an
act of abuse against that other person.
(7) A defendant may
commit an act of abuse by causing or allowing another person to commit the act
or to take part in the commission of the act.
(8) If the act of
abuse is committed by a defendant against a person with whom the defendant is
or was formerly in a relationship, it is referred to in this Act as an act of
"domestic abuse"; and for that purpose, 2 persons are in a relationship
if—
(a) they
are married to each other; or
(b) they
are domestic partners; or
(c) they
are in some other form of intimate personal relationship in which their lives
are interrelated and the actions of 1 affects the other; or
(d) 1 is
the child, stepchild or grandchild, or is under the guardianship, of the other
(regardless of age); or
(e) 1 is
a child, stepchild or grandchild, or is under the guardianship, of a person
who is or was formerly in a relationship with the other under
paragraph (a), (b) or (c) (regardless of age); or
(f) 1 is
a child and the other is a person who acts in loco parentis in relation to the
child; or
(g) 1 is
a child who normally or regularly resides or stays with the other; or
(h) they
are brothers or sisters or brother and sister; or
(i)
they are otherwise related to each other by or through
blood, marriage, a domestic partnership or adoption; or
(j) they
are related according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules or
are both members of some other culturally recognised family group; or
(k) 1 is
the carer (within the meaning of the Carers Recognition Act 2005 ) of
the other.
(9) An act of abuse
may be committed by a defendant against a person with whom the defendant is
not, and was not formerly, in a relationship (including in circumstances where
the defendant imagines such a relationship) and such an act of abuse is
referred to
in this Act as an act of "non-domestic abuse".