New laws concerning strangulation and family violence
In 2020 new laws were introduced to recognize the seriousness of choking, or non-lethal strangulation and suffocation.
As part of the governments package of family violence legal reforms, the new offence of impeding someone’s airways was introduced. This offence carries a maximum penalty of 7 years imprisonment.
The bar for the new offence is a low one. The offence is made out if it’s established that a person unlawfully affects another person’s normal breathing or blood circulation, by any means. Unlawful suffocation and strangulation will occur where someone completely or partially blocks another person’s nose or mouth, or where they apply pressure to another person’s neck.
As part of the reforms, Persistent family violence also became a criminal offence recognising that physical and psychological abuse against a partner often forms a pattern of offending. ‘Family violence’ covers a wide range of offences, including assaults, stalking and property damage. This offence applies to an act of family violence against one victim on three or more occasions over a 10-year period.
One of the other significant changes that has come into effect from 2021, is that the Court can declare someone to be a serial family violence offender. A declaration has serious consequences such as additional monitoring when on parole, and getting bail is more difficult. Being declared a serial family violence offender will disqualify someone from holding or obtaining a firearms licence.
