48% Increase in Intervention Orders in Victoria.

Victoria's Chief Magistrate Mr Ian Gray has Demanded an urgent Upgrade Of Court Facilities to Cope with an Increasing number of Intervention Order Applications In Victorian Magistrate's Court's. He said Victorian Courts were struggling to Deal with a 48% Increase in Applications in Courts Over The Past Five Years. Courts are Groaning under The weight of This Load and The Victorian Government have to Invest a Lot More in Courts and Seperate Rooms For Interviews Etc.

Victoria's Acting Chief Police Commissioner Tim Cartwright said Police officers attended more cases and I Think "Victims" Are becoming More Confident in Coming Forward, He said It Would Take 10 Years for the Caseload to Decrease.  Berry Street Chief executive Sandie De Wolf said more people were coming forward to seek Help.

Personally I think Mr Gray, Mr Cartwright and Ms De Wolf should Spend more Time In Victorian Magistrate's Court's and Realize what Really happens There, Male Defendants are Judged Purely on their Gender rather than Evidence when they appear before The Court system in relation to Intervention Orders.

Of Course There are Genuine Cases Of Domestic Violence in Victorian Courts, My sister-in-law was Murdered by My Brother-in-law in a Murder Suicide many years ago, and I Certainly agree from First Hand Experience How Devastating Domestic Violence is, But Throwing Intervention Orders at Every application that Comes Before a Court is Not The answer. There are many non Violent Males & Females of all ages who end up having an Intervention order Imposed on Them For Trivial Reasons. Victorian Registrars and Magistrate's Churn out thousands Of These Type of Meaningless Intervention Orders.

The Current Court process is the Real reason for the Vastly Increased Numbers of Intervention Order's In Victoria. Many people have Realized  how easy it is To go out and apply For and Get an Intervention Order. I Have Heard Registrar's Tell Applicant's They are Not Really Interested in The allegations made in an Intervention Order, just fill in the form and bring it back to the counter.

When Defendants arrive at court, They Then have 2 Options, Spend Hundreds Of Dollars on a contested hearing which will be Heard at least 3 months away or Consent to a Final Intervention Order Being Made Without Making any admissions to The Court. Generally Most Defendants agree to this Sausage Machine Process, simply because, it is easier and Cheaper. Magistrate's Love it too Because they don't have to sit Through Hours Of Testimony Either in Contest.ed Hearings.

This Process has Nothing to Do with Justice or Protection of People Whatsoever, it is simply a Legal Bureaucracy and Baristers make lots of money for working in The Intervention Order System because Defendants cannot cross examine the other Party because they are so called "Protected Witnesses". In one Case The Applicant was Deemed a protected Witness because of The Disappearance of Her Cat Feeding Containers.(Pictured Above).

The applicant Told the Magistrate that This was her Place Of work because the Council Paid Her to feed The Cats Eating and Drinking From these Containers in a Public shopping Centre in Melbourne. The Council has Denied That they have ever Employed this Woman To feed These Feral Cats.

You also have to look at How Effective Interventions Orders Really Are???. In a recent finding in The Victorian Coroner's Court, A man returned to His Hallam Home and Murdered His in-laws Only minutes after Police had arrived at The home to issue an Intervention Order That The Police Had Misread.

Two Policemen Ordered The man Out Of the Hallam Home, The police watched The Man Leave The House and Followed him for Several Kilometres, but Drove Past The Man when He pulled Over, The Man Then Returned to the house and Took a knife out of the kitchen and Stabbed His Mother-in-law and Father-in-law to death. So What was The Purpose of Issing an Intervention Order???.

Victorian Coroner Judge Jennifer Coate Cleared Victoria Police of Negligence but Criticized the "Readability" of Intervention Orders In Victoria. In a submission, Victoria police said The Repetitive Nature Of the Intervention orders made It difficult for Police Officers To Read???. Judge Jennifer Coate said All parties would Benefit from More Streamlined and User Friendly Documents.Three Seperate Police misread The Intervention order and also missed reports of previous Domestic Violence Reports that were Made To Police.

When My Brother-in-law was Jailed for Breeching an Intervention Order, he Met Inmates who had Friends with access to all Sort of Firearms including Shotguns, They Didn't care that My Brother-in-law was a prohibited Person on his Intervention Order, he was simply given an address to go to and Pick Up a shotgun on his release from Jail.  Convicted Double murderer Leigh Robinson also had a Shotgun when he shot Tracey Membury, You Have To ask how did Leigh Robinson have a Shotgun despite the Fact he had been in Jail for a Long time and had a Long Criminal Record.

What will Magistrate Ian Gray, Max Cashmore, Nunzio LaRosa, Denise O'Reilly, Greg McNamara and Others do to Make Sure people Like my ex- Brother-in-law and Leigh Robinson don't Have Firearms in Their Possession?????, Just Give more People Intervention Orders????. Physically that will Never Solve the Problem and Never Has, Victorian Authorities Have Followed a Simplistic Solution on a Complex Problem for far Too Long.

I Have sat in Court Many Times and Listened to a Senior Magistrate say to Defendants that Intervention orders are There To Set Clear Boundaries in Regards to The Do's & Dont's of Intervention Orders. How does the Senior Victorian Magistrate Think This Is Possible, If Victorian Police Also Misread Intervention Orders???, But it's Not Just Members of The Public that end up in Disputes and Arguments with their Neighbours, it's also Members of Victoria's Legal System too.

In 2010, Magistrate Raffaele Barberio became Involved in a Dispute with His Neighbour Over Dog Poo, and pleaded Guilty In Moorabbin Magistrate's Court to assault and Intentionally Damaging Property, A Local Couple Complained to Mr Barberio about his Dog's Droppings, after he Failed to pick up the Dog Poo. When The Couple Threatened to Report Mr Barberio to The Council, he Threatened to Punch the Male Driver Through an open window.

After The police Served a Brief of Evidence, Raffaele Barberio went To The Victim's Home and Used a key to Scratch Both Side's of The Couple's Car. Mr Barberio Who had 24 Years On The Bench was Convicted By Magistrate Paul Cloran from NSW, Because Mr Barberio Would have Known Not to approach The Victim Of the Earlier Dog Poo Incident. Magistrate Raffaele Barberio Received a 2 Year good Behaviour Bond.

If Police Cannot Understand Intervention Orders and Members Of the Judicary in Melbourne become involved in unneccessary Disputes over Dog Poo, How Do they expect Members of the Public To Understand The System.

What Needs To Happen is Magistrate's & Registrar's In Victorian Magistrate's Courts Need to Realise that the Intervention Order System is Being Abused, Unfortunately Magistrate's Simply Issue them On the Balance of Probabilites because they don't want to be Blamed if Somebody Get's Hurt Or there is Property Damage, and to get the Order out The Door as Quickly as Possible, They want Defendants to Consent without Admission to the intervention Order.

 If this Process Continues The Courts May as well Introduce an Intervention Order Drive Through, which would save even More Time & Money, and Streamline The process even more. Just Consent without Admission.