THE woman leading the drive to prosecute domestic abusers has hailed the first ever conviction under new laws to tackle psychological harm.
Anne Marie Hicks is the national procurator fiscal for domestic abuse.
Yesterday she hailed the conviction of William James Murdoch as a “significant step forward”.
Murdoch, 43, is the first person to be convicted under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in January last year.
Described as “groundbreaking” legislation, it criminalised psychological domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour, in addition to covering physical abuse.
Murdoch, from Glasgow, admitted a number of offences covered by the Act, including making a string of abusive phone calls to his former wife and breaching the peace.
Appearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Wednesday, he was sentenced to a community payback order with 14 months’ supervision and 200 hours of unpaid work.
A two-year non-harassment order was also imposed.
Commenting yesterday, Hicks said the case should serve as reassurance to victims that their reports will be taken seriously. She said: “This conviction under Scotland’s groundbreaking new legislation represents a highly significant step forward in tackling domestic abuse.
“The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) take a rigorous approach to crimes of domestic abuse and we are committed to prosecuting these crimes effectively and appropriately, using all of the tools at our disposal.
“I hope the prosecution and conviction in this case will provide reassurance to victims and that they will have greater confidence to report all forms of abusive behaviour.
“COPFS will continue to work closely with Police Scotland and other partners, including Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland and Assist, to tackle and prevent domestic abuse, and we strongly encourage anyone who has been a victim of any such offending to report this to the police and seek support.”
The new laws came into force at the end of March.
The move was backed with specialist training for all police and a major awareness campaign.
Responding to the news of the conviction, Detective Superintendent Gordon McCreadie, national lead for domestic abuse, called it a “positive start” and signalled that further cases are already in the works.
He said: “The introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act marks a new era in how Scotland tackles domestic abuse.
“Those coercive and controlling behaviours, that for so long were the hidden aspects of abuse, are now being brought into the open. With the new law we can now investigate and report the full circumstances of an abusive relationship to the Crown Office, as happened in this case.”
Issuing a message to perpetrators and victims, he went on: “This conviction is a positive start and a clear signal that domestic abuse in any form will not be tolerated. There is only one person responsible for domestic abuse and that is the perpetrator, who should be held to account for their abusive behaviour.
“No one deserves to live in fear, and if you are experiencing domestic abuse, please seek support from the police or one of our partners. We take all reports seriously – you will be listened to and your report thoroughly investigated.
“A number of other cases are progressing through the system and we will continue to monitor the new offence to ensure an effective response.”
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