WITH Christmas time approaching, this week Clare Haven Services tells Clare Echo readers about coercive control.
Coercive control is the very heart of domestic abuse. It does not have to be physical to be abuse. It is a persistent and deliberate pattern of behaviour by an abuser over a prolonged period of time designed to achieve obedience and create fear.
It may include coercion, threats, stalking, intimidation, isolation, degradation and control. It may also include physical and/or sexual violence. Coercive control is all about making a woman and children’s world smaller – trapping them, restricting their independence and freedom.
A controlling partner may shut out her friends and family, control her movements, micro-manage what is eaten or worn, restrict access to money and society – all the time chipping away at their confidence and destroying their self-respect. It is not their imagination. It is not their fault. It is not acceptable. It is the abuser viewing a woman and children as possessions that he owns to be controlled and influenced only by him. Control has a terrorising pattern. An abuser’s actions may vary but the eroding impact is the same: fear, gas-lighting, trepidation, isolation, self-doubt “chip–away” at the woman.
Coercive control is CRIME Coercive . If it happened after January 1st 2019, coercive control is a criminal offence in Ireland. Section 39 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018 sets out that: (1) A person commits an offence where he or she knowingly and persistently engages in behaviour that (a) is controlling or coercive (b) has a serious effect on a relevant person, and (c) a reasonable person would consider likely to have a serious effect on a relevant person.
The legislation explains that behaviour has “a serious effect” if the “relevant person” – that is an intimate partner – fears that violence will be used against them or if it causes serious alarm or distress that has a “substantial adverse impact on usual day to day activities”. This new law makes coercive control more serious precisely because it relates to tactics used by an intimate partner – a spouse, non-spouse or civil partner – now or in the past. You do not have to be in a sexual relationship for a partner to be an intimate partner.
What is significant is that it is a pattern of behaviour, each incident is not viewed in isolation but as an element of an ongoing implemented plan to cause harm.
Since the legislation passed we are seeing it coming before the courts mere frequently.
As early as 2021 we saw a Kilrush man facing the consequences of breaking this law, the third person in the country.https://www.galwaydaily.com/courts/man-sentenced-to-three-years-in-prison-for-coercive-control-of-now-former-partner/#google_vignette
2022 – https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40798845.html
Clare Haven Services are aware of the harm coercive causes to women ands children throughout Clare. We are here to help, support and assist women and children who are being subjected to this egregious crime. The 24 hour helpline is 0656822435 for anyone needing to talk or who might have concerns for a woman they know. Anyone, from any walk of life can be an abuser https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40926701.html – no matter who you are or who the perpetrator is, YOU WILL BE BELIEVED.
