Get a protection order against domestic violence

What you'll usually need

Tick things off as you gather them. Your ticks are saved on this phone only.

• The other person's full name, and where they live or work, so the police can find them to serve the order
• Any evidence you have, such as photos, messages, or the names of people who saw what happened
• If you have a medical report, bring the police report as well. The court accepts medical evidence only when a police report goes with it.

Send this list to yourself

Steps

1. Get safe first. If someone is hurting or threatening you right now, call Call 999 or the police on Call 995.
2. Tell the police if you want to. At any police station, ask for the Victim Friendly Unit. The police must help you get shelter or medical treatment, and tell you about your right to a protection order. You can ask for a police officer of your own sex to take your statement.
3. Apply at the magistrates court. Go to the clerk of the court and say you want a protection order. If you don't have a lawyer, the clerk must explain what the order can do and how it is enforced. The clerk must also explain your right to lay a criminal charge and claim compensation.
4. Let someone apply for you if you need to. A relative, neighbour, employer, church, police officer, social welfare officer or counsellor can apply for you. A parent or guardian can apply for a child.
5. Ask for an interim order. The clerk must put your application before a magistrate within 48 hours. If you need protection now, the magistrate can give you an interim protection order without the other person being there. Urgent cases can be heard outside court hours.
6. Get your copy. The court gives you a certified copy, and can also send one to the police station you choose. Keep your copy with you.
7. Let the police serve it. A police officer delivers the order to the other person. You only pay if you choose the messenger of court or deputy sheriff to do it instead.
8. Go back on the return date. The order gives a date when the other person must explain to the court why a final order shouldn't be made. The magistrate can make the final order even if they don't come, as long as they were served.
9. If they break the order, tell the police. Take your copy of the order to the police and make a sworn statement about what happened. The police can arrest the person using the warrant attached to your order.

Good to know

• You can apply if the abuser is your husband, wife or ex-partner, your parent, someone you live or used to live with, or someone you are or were in an intimate relationship with.
• Domestic violence isn't only hitting. It includes sexual, emotional and economic abuse, threats, harassment, stalking, damaging your property, and practices such as forced or child marriage.
• The order can stop the abuse and keep the person away from your home or work. It can make them pay for urgent needs such as food, rent, medical costs and school fees. It can also give someone temporary custody of children.
• A final protection order lasts at least five years. Parts about emergency money or custody of children last up to six months unless the court extends them.
• Breaking an interim or final order is a crime. The person can get a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
• Getting a protection order doesn't stop you laying a criminal charge as well.
• If things change, you or the other person can ask the court to change, cancel or extend the order. If you lose your copy, ask the clerk of the court for a new certified copy.
• Local courts can also give protection orders, but only for emotional or economic abuse.
• The national gender-based violence line Call 575 is free to call. It can connect you to the police Victim Friendly Unit or to counselling. If it doesn't connect on your network, call the police on Call 995.
• If you're unhappy with how the police treated your report, contact the ZRP on Call 0242 703631.