The Austin Lafferty Solicitors & Estate Agents Blog

Shelter Scotland has reported a sharp rise in the number of visits to its website from women looking for help and advice on domestic abuse following its recent Facebook advertising campaign.

The campaign was launched to coincide with the weekend’s Old Firm football match which Strathclyde Police says is often the catalyst for a spike in reported incidents of domestic abuse. The charity saw a 600% increase in visits around the match compared with previous weekends when the same adverts had been running.

Alison Watson, Head of Services at Shelter Scotland, said: “These figures show that hundreds, perhaps thousands of people across Scotland, mainly women, went online last weekend to find advice and help on issues related to domestic abuse. And they weren’t just browsing. The average length of visit to our advice pages increased to several minutes.”

“With a 600% rise in visits to our domestic abuse advice pages, we think that reported cases may only be the tip of the ice-berg and that there could be hundreds more unreported cases of people living in fear of or suffering abuse.”

National charity, 4Children, has recently published the results of its research into conflict and violence in families.

The study found that four million families with children experience some sort of conflict within the home, and that 950,000 children are affected by domestic violence, either directly as victims of violence, or indirectly by witnessing violence.

Like many problems that can lead to family breakdown, family conflict and violence can often remain hidden within families for years because of a reluctance to openly admit to the problem and seek help.

4Children is calling on councils to wake-up to the true extent of conflict in families. Separate research by 4Children has revealed that almost half (46%) of local authorities do not have a domestic violence strategy which mentions violence committed by family members. One in ten (11%) don’t have a domestic violence strategy at all.

Anne Longfield OBE, Chief Executive of 4Children, said:

"Domestic violence is familiar ground, but family violence is often hidden from view. Conflict need not turn to violence if families get the help they need. Violence within the family threatens lives, breaks up families and has severe ongoing psychological and physical effects on hundreds of thousands of parents and children every year.

“Family violence is one of the biggest causes of family crisis in the UK, one which puts lives at risk, isolates people, undermines good mental health and costs the taxpayer in excess of £3.1bn per year  in costs to the NHS, the courts and social services. 4Children's Give Me Strength campaign is focused on getting Government and the whole of society to work together to prevent family crisis.

"Even more worryingly, children who face or witness family violence in the home are significantly more likely to commit other crimes in later life. Up to 79% of those identified as the most troubled families in some authorities are living with domestic violence and in some areas three quarters of children on child protection orders are on the registers because of concerns over domestic violence in the family. Unless urgent action is taken, it is clear that this cycle of violence will continue to plague families for generations to come."

Over £6.5 million of Lottery money is to be spent on supporting families living with domestic abuse across Scotland.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery Good Cause distributors, has announced a package of funding worth £6,494,961 to 18 projects across Scotland. This funding means there will be greater access to proven support services for women and families who have lived through domestic abuse.

There are currently 50,000 recorded incidents of domestic abuse in Scotland each year and Scottish Women’s Aid believes that one in five women will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives.

Heather Coady, Children’s Policy Manager at Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) said: “Scottish Women’s Aid welcomes the news that the Big Lottery Fund has funded domestic abuse projects across Scotland to the tune of £6.5 million. This is a significant injection of cash towards an area of work that supports vulnerable women, children and young people living with the trauma of domestic abuse and recognition that this is an area desperately in need of funding.”

SWA have also been awarded £367,109 to develop a nationwide CEDAR Children Experiencing Domestic Abuse Recovery project to work with families and women to help them move on from the emotional and social difficulties experienced as a consequence of domestic abuse.

A judge in Fort Lauderdale has ordered a bickering couple to go out on a date together, reports the Sun Sentinel.

The couple had come before the judge after an argument triggered by the man forgetting his wife's birthday escalated into a mild domestic disturbance.

According to the Sun Sentinel, the judge directed: “He’s going to stop by somewhere and he’s going to get some flowers. And then he’s going to go home, pick up his wife, get dressed, take her to Red Lobster. And then after they have Red Lobster, they’re going to go bowling.”

The judge stressed that he wouldn't have given such a “whimsical” sentence if the domestic violence accusation had been more serious, or if the wife had been in danger of being hurt.

He also ordered that the couple attend marriage counseling.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has spoken at an event to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

In his speech, he said:

“We are all aware that violence against women and girls takes many forms. It includes rape, domestic violence and harassment at work. There is abuse in school, female genital mutilation and sexual violence in armed conflict. This violence spans the globe. And it is predominantly inflicted by men.

These are the facts.

Whether in developing or developed countries, the pervasiveness of this unacceptable violence should shock us all. Violence — and in many cases the mere threat of it — is one of the most significant barriers to women’s full equality.

All women and girls have the fundamental right to live free of violence. This right is enshrined in international human rights and humanitarian law. And it lies at the heart of my “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” campaign. 

Since its launch in 2008, the campaign has galvanized Governments, civil society, the corporate sector, athletes, artists, women, men and young people around the world. The social mobilisation platform “Say NO — UNiTE” has recorded more than 2 million activities worldwide — from protest marches to public awareness campaigns, from legislative advocacy to assistance for victims.

Many of these activities have received support from the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. The Fund is now 15 years old. It has delivered grants worth $77 million to 339 initiatives in 126 countries and territories.

Our challenge is to ensure that the message of “zero tolerance” is heard far and wide. To do that, we must engage all of society — and especially young people — in particular young men and boys. Too many young men still grow up surrounded by outmoded male stereotypes.

Two years ago, I launched a Network of Men Leaders to address this issue. Older men should set a good example in saying no to such violence. We need to promote healthy models of masculinity. But, to do that, young men and boys must be encouraged to become the advocates we need. We need this generation of men to make a break from the ingrained behaviour of generations.

We want people everywhere to speak up; to say “No” to violence against women and girls.”

Newly released police statistics show an increase of 10.56% this year in the number of incidents recorded as domestic abuse or violence with a man as the victim, as compared to 2009-10. It is the 11th successive year in which the figure has risen.

I was asked by the Herald to comment on the attempt by former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin to block any newspaper making certain references to him. Whether or not you are familiar with the term super-injunction or not, most people know that anyone wanting to prevent false and scurrilous stories appearing in newspapers or on TV can go to court to get an order to prevent such publication. In England it’s called injunction, in Scotland the terms is interdict.