Classifying voluntarily causing hurt to intimate partners an arrestable offence

Question:

Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) why the 2019 Penal Code amendments, which doubled penalties for offences against domestic workers, vulnerable persons and intimate partners, made every offence against the first two arrestable but not the third; and (b) whether voluntarily causing hurt to an intimate partner will be made arrestable without a prior protection order, or the Police empowered to issue protection notices.

Answer:

Ms Sim Ann, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Second Minister for Home Affairs:

1. The 2019 amendments to the Penal Code were introduced to strengthen the legal protection of vulnerable victims. This comprises domestic workers, vulnerable persons due to mental or physical disabilities, and children below 14 years old. Penalties for Penal Code offences committed against such victims were enhanced, and all Penal Code offences committed against such vulnerable victims were made arrestable. This is in recognition of these vulnerable victims’ inability to protect themselves against the offenders, and to allow Police to intervene quickly.

2. The 2019 Penal Code amendments did not make every offence against intimate or close partners arrestable, although they also enhanced the maximum penalties for specific offences, such as hurt and sexual offences, most of which were already arrestable.

3. This is because, relative to domestic workers, mentally or physically vulnerable persons, and children, who are in an inherently vulnerable position in society, adults who encounter intimate partner violence may be better-placed to seek help and access protection, with appropriate support from social services and through legal remedies. Which have all been strengthened.

4. The Women’s Charter was amended in 2023 to empower victim-survivors of domestic violence to better protect themselves and strengthen the Government’s ability to intervene in such cases. Today, MSF’s 24-hour Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (DVERT) is empowered to issue Emergency Orders on site in high-risk cases to restrain perpetrators from committing further violence against a family member.  A breach of the Emergency Order, including any Domestic Exclusion, Stay Away or No Contact Order imposed under it, is an arrestable offence. Police is not empowered to issue protection orders. Nevertheless, Police officers respond jointly with DVERT officers in such high-risk cases and handle cases with law-and-order issues.

5. The Police set up the Sexual Crime and Family Violence Command in 2023 to better manage sexual crime and domestic violence cases. Since 2022, the Police have trained and deployed Family Violence Community Policing Officers to handle and monitor cases of domestic violence. This includes making referrals to Protection Specialist Centres and Family Service Centres where necessary.

6. We believe that the above approach embodies a strong stance against domestic violence, while accounting for the fact that it can take various forms and vary in severity, and the appropriate response will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case.

7. The offence of voluntarily causing hurt against victims in intimate or close relationships with the offender is not automatically arrestable. However, the Police already makes arrests where there are grounds to do so, such as where offences like voluntarily causing grievous hurt or criminal intimidation have been committed. This approach strikes a balance because there are cases where parties come to the Police to say that they do not want to proceed with the complaint. This is because, on reflection, they realise that both parties were at fault (and both may have been violent too), and that they would like to repair the relationship – which could be difficult if a party is arrested and the matter escalated. Nevertheless, if there are clear grounds to do so, offenders can still be prosecuted when it is assessed to be the most appropriate action to take.

8. The Government will continue to review and strengthen our whole-of-society approach to protect and support victim-survivors of domestic violence.