Intervention Orders – A Witless Protection System

A Leading Criminal Lawyer in New South Wales has said, AVO's do little to prevent acts of Violence and believing in a System that could prevent murder is laughable. There were 23,176 Apprehended Violence Orders granted in NSW Last Year and Police reported there were 10,000 breeches. The Authorities in New South Wales can't even stop a Man being killed at Sydney Airport, even with Airport Security, how do they expect people to be safe in the general community, realistically it is a physical impossibility.

It Doesn't Matter what Politicians, Police Or Magistrates may say, the harsh reality is Australian Domestic Violence History is littered with many stories of Mother's and Daughter's being murdered, because they falsely believed an AVO or Intervention Order will protect them. What the Court System has to do is look at the History of the defendant or perpetrator. The Information is of no use at a Coronial Inquest after the AFM has been murdered. Tragically there are too many families who find out that their family members were murdered by men who had a long history of Domestic Violence which may have affected many women over a period of time. It is only after their loved ones death that families find out the real truth of the perpetrators Violent History.

When People obtain Intervention Orders from the Courts, I have heard Magistrates say, if there is a breech of the Order, contact the Police and they will become involved but this is putting people at greater risk by misleading applicants into believing that they will be protected even though Police Response is regularly inadequate. This could have very serious and tragic consequences.


After a recent Murder Suicide in Sydney, Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called for the Police Minister Tony Kelly to investigate how the Murderer with a long history of Domestic Violence had access to a gun; this was despite an AVO being in place against him. Police had been unable to locate any guns after the AVO was granted. Mr. Rhiannon says NSW has weak gun laws.

The police may check to see whether a person has a firearm when the intervention Order or AVO is issued, but what happens after a person is released from Prison for a breech of an Intervention order???. Recently a young woman was stabbed to death near her home, even though an Intervention Order had been issued a couple of Months before the Woman's Death. The defendant was charged with Murder and for Breeching an Intervention Order. It seems pointless to charge somebody for breeching an Intervention Order after it has failed to adequately protect the applicant who is now deceased??.

According to the judicial commission of NSW between April 2006 and March 2008, 968 people were sentenced to jail for breeching an AVO. This essentially puts them into a Criminal Community with access to illegal Firearms and you don't need a gun license to buy one, all you need is the money and you will be given an address to pick up the firearm, the inmate doesn't care that you're a prohibited person with an AVO or Intervention Order against you. Magistrates have made it possible for defendants to obtain a firearm by putting them in Jail, and it is a recipe for disaster because the Paper Thin AVO or Intervention Order will not protect you if somebody is determined to harm you.

In December 2008, the Victorian State Government introduced legislation aimed to protect victims of family violence. a co-coordinator of a Community Legal Centre welcomed the move, which she said would better protect the community from family violence and make those responsible more accountable.

These type of statements are very misleading, I recently went to a Family Violence meeting where a Police Representative at the meeting admitted they didn't have enough Police to adequately protect people in the community. In some cases applicants have reported serious breeches to the police, but they have told magistrates that Police seem unconcerned about the applicant's complaint.

We have politicians who say that the key element of their Family Violence legislation is to make it easy for victims of family violence to remain in the family home with their children. This may be the case, but it also makes it very easy for the perpetrators of family Violence if they know where you live, which could lead to very tragic consequences.

In Melbourne a 36 year old woman had taken out an intervention order, but 2 weeks after the order was taken out, she was shot dead by her De Facto. He had served time in Prison for Attempted Rape and he had been acquitted of the stabbing Murder of a 22 year old Adelaide Woman. After shooting the 36 year old Woman, he later committed Suicide. Once again the Intervention order failed to protect a woman against a man who had a Violent History. How did the defendant have a Firearm, surely the Intervention Order made him a Prohibited Person??.

In a Newspaper report, a man choked "the Love of his Life" after she rejected him and threw him out of their flat, he then went to the Police and told them he had killed his girlfriend. The deceased woman had taken out an Intervention Order against her boyfriend, just four days before her death. She had invited him back to sleep on the couch the day after the Intervention order was made. The defendant also confessed to two violent armed robberies. Was the "love of his life" aware that he had been involved in Violent Armed Robberies??.

In his book, Just another Little Murder, Phil Cleary outlines the Long and Violent History of Peter Raymond Keogh who the Police and the Courts Should have stopped long before he took the life of Phil's caring Sister Vicki. In May 1987, Vicki went to the Kilmore Court seeking an Intervention Order and was told By the Court Clerk; an Intervention Order won't stop him from Killing You. It's Unbelievable that someone like Vicki could go to a court seeking protection from a Violent man and be told, sorry we can't really help You!!!!. Keogh had threatened to Bomb Vicki's father's Butcher Shop and set fire to her furniture.

3 Months later Peter Keogh carried out his threat and murdered Vicki Cleary. Once again Vicki and the Cleary Family were let down by an incompetent legal System because Peter Keogh was sentenced to a jail term of just 3 years and 11 months. In Football Terms, Jack Hill the Blind Miner could see that this was not manslaughter but was a deliberate cold blooded Murder. For Decent Women like Vicki Cleary there are no tomorrows, but a bastard like Peter Keogh was out of prison in less Than 4 Years, to continue his violence against other women. In 2000 another Girlfriend took out an Intervention Order, this time he burnt the house down that his ex-girlfriend lived in, and yet again the justice system failed to stop him. Family members of Paul Denyer had taken out Intervention orders against him, long before he took the lives of 3 innocent and defenseless women.

A taxi driver beat his wife to death with the back of an Axe, after she took out an Intervention Order out against him. Domestic Violence related Deaths are avoidable, but the problem is our Court System fails to identify those people who have a history of Family Violence, and they fail to stop them before they end up taking an innocent person's life. Just as there is a Sexual offenders Register, there needs to be some sort of Domestic Violence register, so these types of violent men can be stopped from harming, not just one woman, but many women during their despicable lives. Victoria's Court System wastes too much court and Police Time on too many unnecessary Intervention Orders against people who are Non Violent defendants.

At the family Violence meeting I went to in Knox, a coordinator of Women's Support groups said that if someone is determined to hurt you or murder you, an intervention order won't stop them and another woman who was a coordinator for Women's refuges, said she no longer advises Women to take out Intervention Orders because they're ineffective and don't make any difference whatsoever.

A Relationships Australia manager said the recent Victorian family Violence changes would give people a feeling of security. In reality it gives people a false sense of security, which could have fatal consequences. It is Obvious that the Legislation in regard to the Family Court defy Comprehension and Common Sense, and Intervention Orders have become more like "Witless Protection" orders, because they don't really protect people from family violence and are overused in Trivial Cases.


The effects of Family Violence can last for a lifetime, I know a family member who will always have to have regular blood tests to check lead levels as a result of being shot by lead pellets from a shotgun. Some Pellets will be in her body for the rest of her life, all courtesy of a decision made by a Magistrate. Welcome to the paper thin protection of AVO'S and Intervention Orders.