'Jersey's domestic abuse law is failing survivors'

Domestic abuse survivors in Jersey are calling for the island's recent law on coercive and controlling behaviour to be made retrospective.

Offences committed before the law came into effect in June 2023 cannot currently be prosecuted using the new legislation.

Hannah and Rebecca - not their real names - have told the BBC the law is "failing survivors" who have been abused in the past. They, and more than 500 others, have signed a petition for the law to be adapted to prosecute historic abuse.

Home Affairs Minister Deputy Mary Le Hegarat said she was aware of the petition and would "respond directly to the proposer... should it reach 1,000 signatures". She declined to comment further.

Hannah and Rebecca told the BBC they were emotionally abused by the same ex-partner, although they were in a relationship with him at different times.

Hannah said the relationship was "really lovely" when it started but "little tiny things" built up until she barely recognised herself.

She said her ex-partner would refuse to look at her if she was wearing make-up and would shame her for wearing certain items of clothing.

"He would also manipulate me with threats of suicide and say it would be my fault if I left and I'd have to live with that for the rest of my life," she said.

"It built so much that I just felt trapped and I had no idea how to get out of the relationship."

Hannah said the abuse came to a head when her ex-partner physically assaulted her in public and threatened to kill her and a member of her family.

She pressed charges and her ex-partner was convicted for his behaviour and sentenced to community service and probation.

That prosecution took place under the new legislation but Hannah said police told her that her other allegations of abuse could not be prosecuted because they had occurred before June 2023.

"Initially, I felt quite empowered - feeling brave enough to press charges - and then it was just utterly disheartening, that there was only one thing he could be charged with," she said.

Hannah said the petition was "really important" to bring justice to survivors.

Rebecca said she had a similar experience.

She said she was controlled by her partner for years, both during and after their relationship.

She said he isolated her from her family and pressured her to get pregnant.

He would get angry when she was not pregnant, Rebecca added, and told her she did not deserve to be a mother.

"I then got pregnant. And I was shaking, thinking, if this comes back negative, I'm actually gonna be scared for my life," she said.

When she went to the police she was told nothing could be done because the abuse happened before the law was enacted.

She said: "It really felt like I was being forced to remain silent.

"We need to listen to the voices of survivors and to the people that are affected by abuse. We need to listen and we need to protect them."

Kate Wright, chief executive of domestic abuse charity Freeda, said she supported calls for the law to recognise abuse before June 2023.

She acknowledged the change could place a burden on the criminal justice system but said "the benefits outweighed the disadvantages".

Ms Wright said achieving legal justice could be "incredibly healing" for victims.

"It has a really positive impact on challenging the culture that has, to date, enabled many perpetrators to get away with their crimes," she said.

"It's not just about justice, it's about prevention".

Harriet Wistrich, an English lawyer and director of the Centre for Women's Justice, said it was a "fundamental principle" of justice that people could not be charged for a crime that was not illegal at the time they committed it.

She said reforming domestic abuse law to allow retrospective applications could be possible, but she thought it was unlikely to happen.

She said victims were more likely to achieve justice by breaking down the offences that took place and finding laws that were in place at the time to prosecute them.

Ms Wistrich also said it was important to make sure police officers had proper training on domestic abuse.

She said officers often focused on single instances of physical or sexual abuse instead of looking at a wider context of coercive control.

Det Chief Inspector Mark Hafey from Jersey Police said officers had been given lots of training on domestic abuse in the last two years and they "absolutely recognised" it was more than physical abuse.

Deputy Catherine Curtis, head of the home affairs scrutiny panel, said she "completely understood" why people wanted justice but changing the domestic abuse law was complicated by Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states no law should be retrospective.

The scrutiny panel said it planned to ask the minister her view on changing the law and whether she had started investigating the feasibility and public sentiment around doing so.

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