WA Police were called to a DV victim’s house 54 times. She was evicted for being a ‘nuisance’

3 months ago 4

A domestic violence victim who was kicked out of her house after police were called more than 50 times to deal with her abusers has had her eviction overturned by Western Australia’s highest court.

The woman, who has not been named to protect her privacy as a victim of family violence, had her tenancy terminated from a house in Waikiki in October 2023, and disputed the order in WA’s Supreme Court on Monday.

Police were called to the house to respond to frequent disruptive arguments.

She was evicted after Rockingham Magistrates Court found she had been a “nuisance” in the public housing, despite the magistrate finding she was rarely the cause for police being called to the house – instead, her family who abused her were often the reason behind officers’ visits.

“[The woman] is in an extremely difficult position where she is, herself, a victim of family violence, that she is vulnerable and, to some extent, lacking in any power to change or affect the behaviour of other people who are at her property,” the magistrate said at the termination order hearing in 2023.

“But it also makes clear that there has been an awful lot of trouble at that property.”

The court heard police had been called to her home on 54 occasions over the course of a year.

“So even from [the woman’s] perspective, it has got to be accepted that there has been a lot of trouble at that property, and trouble not only that would affect those living within those premises, but arguably, and quite clearly, in the evidence that I accept, impacted upon those in the immediate vicinity,” the magistrate said.

“It’s a terrible thing to say that somehow a person is responsible for family violence towards themselves impacting on the people around them.”

Neighbours provided evidence to the Magistrates Court that the woman was the victim of repeated abuse by her family members and their partners who also lived at the property, and who also had caused issues for those living nearby.

One said he heard heated arguments coming from the property on a weekly basis, and had once reported a group of young boys for throwing stones at neighbour’s houses to the Department of Housing and Works.

He said he had called the police on one occasion when a woman knocked on his door “screaming and carrying on”, but hadn’t phoned the authority.

Another neighbour said he had been called back from holidays on two occasions because his property had been damaged, allegedly by people living at the house, and he had also heard “disturbances on a weekly basis”.

He told the court the “behaviour coming from the house had left him on edge a lot of the time and constantly wondering whether he was going to get a full night’s sleep or find damaged property when he came home”.

In 2023, the magistrate said she believed the woman had allowed the behaviour from her children and ex-partner to continue over a year.

“As difficult as it would have been for [her] there were further steps she could take in addition to telling people that they weren’t welcome, or that they were to leave,” she said.

The magistrate indicated the woman only seemed to call police if she herself was in danger, and she could have taken the step of taking out a restraining order against her family if necessary.

“She has, essentially, allowed for it to continue,” the magistrate said.

During the appeal this week, the department argued the woman’s termination order should be upheld on those grounds.

The authority argued the woman had permitted the “nuisances and interferences” by failing to prevent them, although Justice Matthew Howard said it was difficult to say whether each “nuisance” had even been proven to have happened.

Howard ultimately determined the magistrate did not have the jurisdiction to decide whether the woman had technically “permitted” the abuse, and ordered the woman’s tenancy termination order be set aside.

He said in his view the woman calling police for help indicated she was, in fact, not permitting the abuse.

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Works said the termination of a tenancy was often the “last resort”.

“The Department of Housing and Works is considering the Supreme Court’s decision handed down Monday and will determine the appropriate action in due course,” they said.

“[The department] has existing policies and procedures in place to support victims of family and domestic violence and remains steadfast in its commitment to doing so.

“The termination of any tenancy is the last resort for DHW and is often taken to ensure the safety of the community.”

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