HK lawyer stokes controversy on Macau’s domestic violence law

Ho Chi Kuen

Ho Chi Kuen, the Chairman of Hong Kong Law Society of Domestic Violence, suggested that certain types of domestic violence should be considered first as civil matters before being handled as crimes.
This opinion was expressed yesterday on the sidelines of the Ninth International Conference on The Legal Reforms of Macau in the Global Context-Law, Sexuality and Family.
“In Hong Kong, domestic violence is not necessarily a crime. Only when the violence is serious the police interfere to prosecute the abuser,” Ho explained.
“When handling domestic violence cases, we also need to think for the abusers,” he said. “If, starting from the beginning, the abuser is prosecuted, it could undermine the family environment,”
Ho added. “The victims do not necessarily want to see their spouses being prosecuted.”
The lawyer explained that the victims, considering that the abuser might be sentenced to jail, or have crime records, or lose their jobs, or the abuser’s family might blame it to the victim, might make different decisions about how to deal with their situations. “The victims frequently do not report to the police about their domestic violence situation [because of the aforementioned considerations],” Ho noted.
Ho claims that in many cases he handled, abusers normally stopped perpetrating the violence after the court issued an injunction, which means that it is not always necessary to criminally prosecute the abusers.
According to Ho, in Hong Kong, when handling domestic violence cases, normally an injunction is first issued to the abusers. The lawyer did, however, voice his concern when asked what Macau could learn from Hong Kong in terms of domestic violence laws.
The lawyer stressed that Hong Kong needs to improve its own domestic violence laws.
“Hong Kong is doing well in terms of domestic violence, but it can be better,” he said. For example, he thinks that Hong Kong still lacks a sound educational effort to make the public aware of what the city’s domestic violence system can offer to victims.
Ho, who is also the chairman of the Hong Kong Family Law Committee, considered that Hong Kong probably needs to learn from the UK, which ruled back to 2014 that verbal violence is crime. “Verbal violence can lead to the victim [suffering] serious mental trauma,” said Ho.
Earlier, a 39-year-old local man surnamed Wong was arrested by the Judiciary Police for alleged domestic violence. The incident marks the first domestic violence case arrest since domestic violence has become a public crime in Macau. Julie Zhu