Doctors and domestic violence professionals should be able to testify in court about an alleged offender's history of coercive or controlling behaviour, member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell says.
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Speaking in Parliament, Ms Maxwell said when courts consider every incident of violence individually, they do not see the full picture of offending.
"Every incident is considered in its own right, but this single-incident approach does not fit with the enduring nature of coercive control and some other family violence offending," she said.
"It effectively means that offenders avoid accountability for the complex and enduring ongoing behavioural patterns that occur in abusive relationships."
Ms Maxwell said former chief executive of the Centre Against Violence in Wangaratta, Kerry Burns, believes courts should take into account the whole picture of offending.
In a motion to the house Ms Maxwell called on the government to "examine the abhorrent behaviour known as coercive control and the potential for evidence of such behaviour to be used in court cases."
Ms Maxwell said her motion was about representing victims.
The MP highlighted the case of Alicia Little who was crushed to death by a car her fiancé was driving at their Kyneton home on December 28, 2017. Ms Maxwell claimed Ms Little had spoken to the Centre Against Violence and her GP about family violence before her death.
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The offender was initially charged with murder, but instead pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Alicia's mother Lee watched on as Ms Maxwell said the plea-bargaining process took family violence out of the 'scope of the incident' and took away 'justice'.
"The court noted their relationship was volatile within their four-year relationship and had been marked by episodes of family violence, yet there was no opportunity for the records of the Centre Against Violence or the evidence of their caseworkers to be presented to the court, so there was little consideration of family violence in the context of this offence, not to mention that he was subject to an intervention order by a former partner," she said.
Ms Maxwell said coercive behaviour needed to be considered before court.
"Unless the whole picture of their offending is presented the context is never completely understood, nor considered, particularly within our courts," she said.
"This is not just about sentencing or sentence length; it is also about accountability and rehabilitation. If our system does not see the full picture, how does our system really work to create change?"
The house agreed to Ms Maxwell's motion.
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