The number of people facing court on protection order breaches has jumped almost 36% since the 2014 deaths of Dunedin children Bradley and Ellen Livingstone at the hands of their father, who was subject to a protection order.
Numbers released by the Ministry of Justice under the Official Information Act showed 2916 people were before the courts in the past financial year on protection order breaches. That was a 14.3% increase on the previous year, when 2552 appeared before the court on breaches, and a 35.8% increase on 2013-14.
Police and Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Women’s Refuge said the Livingstone children’s deaths in 2014 were a catalyst for change in the police and agencies charged with protecting family violence victims.
Bradley and Ellen were shot in their beds by their father Edward Livingstone in January 2014. Livingstone then turned the gun on himself in the St Leonards house he formerly shared with his estranged wife, Katharine Webb, and the children. Ms Webb had fled to a neighbour’s home.
In the months before the children’s deaths, Livingstone was twice charged with breaching a protection order preventing him from contacting Ms Webb.
Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall ruled in July last year that Livingstone, vengeful following separation from the children’s mother, was ultimately responsible for the deaths.
However, multiple failings by agencies charged with protecting the children and their mother meant "red flags" were missed, and the full extent of the risk to the family went undetected.
Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Women’s Refuge manager Wenda Parata-Muir said, since the deaths, she had seen a change in the culture of police regarding family violence, which might explain the surge in offenders before the courts on family violence breaches.
"It’s galvanised a lot of agencies," she said.
Police had been "much more supportive" since the tragedy and changes to legislation and procedure had resulted in a more robust process.
The Family Violence Inter-Agency Response System agencies in Dunedin now met daily, instead of weekly, and an overhaul of legislation — including 50 changes to the Domestic Violence Act, Care of Children Act, Sentencing Act, Bail Act, Crimes Act, Criminal Procedure Act and the Evidence Act — provided greater powers and responsibility to the agencies charged with protecting victims.
"If we have a name come across the table that’s on the at-risk register, every agency at that table will be accountable," Ms Parata-Muir said.
"That initiative wasn’t in place as tight as it is today."
While there were still areas which needed to be addressed, "the gaps are closing", she said.
Inspector Eric Tibbott, of the National Prevention Centre, said the children’s deaths resulted in a review of police handling of the case.
"The tragic deaths of Bradley and Ellen Livingstone, and others, have all contributed to a commitment to reduce the harm and prevalence of family violence in New Zealand," he said.
"This commitment is being driven through the Government’s ministerial group on family violence and sexual violence and within police through a wide range of work streams, including policing excellence the future: safer whanau and our internal family violence change programme: police mind-set and practice," Insp Tibbott said.
Police were also reporting to the Family Violence Death Review Committee, which looked for ways to improve the service, training and information-sharing between agencies charged with protecting family violence victims.
"The New Zealand Police is committed to reducing the harm and prevalence of family violence,’’ Insp Tibbott said.
"Over the last two years significant work has commenced, including police leading the Government’s integrated safety response pilots in Christchurch and, more recently, Waikato, Police piloting Whangaia Nga Pa Harakeke — a police and iwi partnership aimed at the prevention and reduction of the intergeneration effects of family harm — and our internal change programme.
"All of this work seeks to ensure our staff have the right tools, knowledge and skills to respond to family harm. Ensuring our police staff respond and effectively investigate and prosecute protection order breaches remains a key focus to ensure offenders are held to account."
