A HORSHAM woman who experienced family violence has called for courthouses to be upgraded, labelling her experience attending court as traumatising.
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The woman attend Horsham Magistrate’s Court on several occasions between 2014 and 2016 to have an intervention order put in place against her ex-husband.
She said she ‘put up’ with family violence for 20 years.
“To everyone else, I made it look good from the outside,” she said.
“No one knows what happens behind closed doors.”
The woman said going to court was a traumatising experience.
“You can feel and see the tension, nervousness and fear in people,” she said.
“Everyone has their own stories of why they are there and you really do not know if someone will start an argument or fight.”
The woman, like many victims of family violence, had to walk past or be near her perpetrator while at court.
“I was a shaking mess. It’s extremely hard,” she said.
“The Horsham court is small. We were only two or three metres away from each other. There is no privacy while sitting there waiting.”
The woman said when people arrived at court, they had to register at the front desk.
“It takes a lot of willpower to walk in, knowing that your perpetrator is sitting in there and you are being watched by him at all times,” she said.
“I would try to sit outside if he was sitting inside.”
The woman said the court system gave perpetrators power and control. She said there needed to be more security in place.
“There is no screening for weapons or anything there and there certainly isn’t enough police to monitor inside and out,” she said.
“It will only be a matter of time before someone will be hurt. Just because someone is in a court, does not mean they will behave.”
Wimmera lawyers have called for courthouses to be upgraded to improve security.
The woman said the building was not set up to keep people safe.
“No one understands what it is like until they have been in the situation,” she said.
- The woman cannot be named for legal reasons.