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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Criminal Law Consolidation (Defences—Domestic Abuse
Context) Amendment Bill 2017
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the
Criminal
Law Consolidation Act 1935
.
Contents
Part 2—Amendment of Criminal Law
Consolidation Act 1935
3Amendment of section
5—Interpretation
4Amendment of section 15—Self
defence
5Insertion of sections 15D and 15E
15DDomestic abuse and self
defence
15EDomestic abuse
and the common law defence of duress
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Criminal Law Consolidation
(Defences—Domestic Abuse Context) Amendment Act 2017.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Criminal Law Consolidation
Act 1935
3—Amendment
of section 5—Interpretation
Section 5(1)—after the definition of criminal
organisation insert:
domestic abuse has the same meaning as in the
Intervention
Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009
;
4—Amendment
of section 15—Self defence
After section 15(5) insert:
Note—
1 See
section 15D as to belief in circumstances where domestic abuse is
alleged.
5—Insertion
of sections 15D and 15E
After section 15C insert:
15D—Domestic abuse and self
defence
(1) Without limiting section 15, in proceedings for an offence in
circumstances where self defence in the context of domestic abuse is in issue, a
person may genuinely believe that the person's conduct is necessary and
reasonable for a defensive purpose, and the conduct may be reasonably
proportionate to the threat that the person genuinely believes to exist, even
if—
(a) the person is responding to a threat that is not immediate or
imminent; or
(b) the response involves the use of force in excess of the force involved
in the harm or threatened harm.
(2) Without limiting the evidence that may be adduced, in circumstances
where self defence in the context of domestic abuse is in issue, evidence of
domestic abuse may be relevant in determining whether—
(a) a person has carried out conduct while believing it to be necessary
and reasonable for a defensive purpose; or
(b) the conduct is reasonably proportionate to the threat that the person
genuinely believed to exist.
(3) Evidence of
domestic abuse, in relation to a person, includes evidence of any of the
following—
(a) the history of the relationship between the person and a family
member, including abuse by the family member towards the person or by the person
towards the family member or by the family member or the person in relation to
any other family member;
(b) the cumulative effect, including psychological effect, on the person
or a family member of that abuse;
(c) social, cultural or economic factors that impact on the person or a
family member who has been affected by domestic abuse;
(d) the general nature and dynamics of relationships affected by domestic
abuse, including the possible consequences of separation from the
abuser;
(e) the psychological effect of abuse on people who are or have been in a
relationship affected by domestic abuse;
(f) social or economic factors that impact on people who are or have been
in a relationship affected by domestic abuse.
(4) In this section a person is a family member of another
person if those 2 persons are in a relationship within the meaning of section
8(8) of the
Intervention
Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009
.
15E—Domestic abuse and the common law defence of
duress
(1) In proceedings for an offence in circumstances where the common law
defence of duress is in issue, evidence of domestic abuse may be relevant in
determining whether a person has carried out conduct under duress and, as such,
may enliven the defence where it might not otherwise have been enlivened in the
absence of that evidence.
(2) Without limiting the evidence that may be adduced, in circumstances
where duress in the context of domestic abuse is in issue, evidence of domestic
abuse may be relevant in considering whether—
(a) a person has carried out conduct while believing it to be necessary;
or
(b) the conduct is a reasonable response in the circumstances as a person
perceives them.
(3) Evidence of domestic abuse, in relation to a person, includes those
matters referred to in
section 15D(3)
.