Fife Women's Aid ambassador praises proposed domestic abuse law

The Scottish Government has proposed domestic abuse legislation that would allow police to stop suspected abusers from entering victims' properties.

Under the proposed law, courts and police officers could block access to the homes of victims of domestic abuse. Landlords would also be able to end the tenancies of the perpetrators.

Bee Parkinson-Cameron is the ambassador for Fife Women's Aid and a survivor of domestic abuse. She said this proposal is "a step in the right direction".

"With these sorts of things, it’s always a difficult balancing act because you need to take into consideration the difference between someone who is an abuser and has committed a crime versus somebody who has been accused of it, because we have had many cases across the whole world of false accusations," she continued.

"The fact that they are barred from the property and not able to enter it, for me, feels right and it feels consistent with other areas. Because if there is a case of child abuse, as far as I’m aware, if it’s a two-parent household and the mother stays with the child, for example, and it's the father who’s been abusive then the father doesn’t have rights to access the property.

"So, for that to be carried over into cases of abuse, it just makes sense. Now what I would feel is significant about this actually is that it’s not aimed specifically just for women who are being abused by men, because domestic abuse is not just a man to a woman. It can happen to any relationship, it can happen to anybody regardless of their gender identity."

A four year high was recorded for Scottish domestic abuse cases in September, after Holyrood passed other legislation to combat controlling behaviour. In the year 2018/19, Fife police officers recorded 4,483 incidents of domestic abuse.

Speaking about her personal experience, Bee said: "The police officers within Fife that I dealt with were exceptional and their biggest frustration was that they had limited abilities and there was only so much they could do. I think that they would probably appreciate this and that they can take that extra step to help support somebody, to protect them.

"That means that the person who has been abused has the time, in their property, without the abuser there, to kind of pull themselves together to have a better chance to break the cycle of coercive control, but also psychological control. If you ask somebody who's been abused, whilst their abuser is there, if they've been abused, the answer you're probably going to get is 'no'."

Anyone who thinks they may be experiencing some sort of domestic abuse can contact Fife Women's Aid at 0808 802 5555 for 24 hour support.