Domestic abuse cases to go to parish hall?

Tuesday 24th April 2007, 12:00AM BST.

NOT all cases of domestic abuse need to go to court, says the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache.

At yesterday’s launch of this year’s anti-domestic violence campaign, Sir Philip said that parish hall inquiries could be used as a way of dealing with offenders without humiliating the victim. Speaking at the launch event at the Welcome Centre at St Thomas’s Church, he said that a flexible and common-sense approach could be adopted in cases of domestic assault. ‘Domestic assaults, like all assaults, are criminal offences. But they don’t all have to end up in court. With our unique process of restorative justice at the parish halls, abusive men can be held to account in the privacy of the parish hall inquiry without humiliating the woman,’ said Sir Philip.

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