Woman prosecutes ex-boyfriend who doused her with petrol after police in Australia refused

'This case is a shocking reminder that victims are still not being believed and not being protected,' says academic

Police told the woman, whose identity has not been revealed, they would not prosecute him due to there being 'a low level of public interest' (GETTY CREATIVE)

A woman in Australia has prosecuted her former partner who soaked her in petrol after police refused to charge him with domestic abuse.

Police told the woman, whose identity has not been revealed, they would not prosecute him in 2017 due to there being “a low level of public interest”.

Her ex, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has now admitted to dousing her in petrol and threatening to burn their house down.

He pleaded guilty to threatening violence and was sentenced to 130 hours of community service, although no conviction was recorded.

The victim made the unusual decision to employ a lawyer and pursue prosecution against her ex, who is from Queensland in north east Australia, off her own back.

“It has been over four years since I believed I was going to die at the hands of my partner,” she told The Guardian.

“Every day I am faced with the challenge of living with post-traumatic stress disorder, the loss of who I was, how I was able to function in life and what I was able to achieve. [His] threat to set me alight has had a profound and irreversible effect on my life and the lives of my children.”

She said she had encountered “so many harrowing accounts from domestic violence survivors” and numerous occasions where Queensland Police did not take such abuse seriously or hold perpetrators to account.

Anastasia Powell, a feminist criminologist at RMIT University in Melbourne, told The Independent: “This case is a shocking reminder that despite all the public discussions and government policy on domestic violence, victims are still not being believed and not being protected.

“The implications of such cases are far-reaching. Every time a victim is not believed and is turned away, the risk increases. When we don't take domestic violence seriously as a community, whether that is our police, our underfunded support services, or our neighbours, families, and friends, we are risking women's and children's lives.

“On average one Australian woman a week is killed by a partner or former partner. One in four women will experience violence in her lifetime, at the hands of those who supposedly love them. We must not turn these women away. We must not fail to act.”

The victim's barrister, Clem van der Weegen, said the fact she had to resort to a private prosecution, coupled with man's guilty plea in January, should “deeply embarrass” Queensland Police.

Alexandra Patsalides, a human rights lawyer at Equality Now, a non-government organisation which aims to promote the rights of women and girls, said: “Domestic violence affects vast numbers of women in every country around the world. It is a form of gender-based violence that breaches internationally recognised human rights standards and states, including Australia, have an obligation to prevent, investigate, and prosecute all forms of domestic abuse, including physical violence.

“It is completely unacceptable for the police to push responsibility for prosecuting a perpetrator of violence onto the survivor, rather than building cases themselves. This is contrary to international law and sends the wrong message to both survivors and those who commit domestic abuse.

“The legal process can be expensive, and it is unacceptable that survivors of domestic abuse should be denied justice if they lack the financial resources to pursue a civil case through the courts.”

Queensland Police said “all appropriate action” had been taken immediately in response to the domestic violence.

“Police attended this incident shortly after it had occurred and action was taken that same day through the provisions of the Domestic and Family Violence Act,” they said.

“The QPS was aware of the allegations and circumstances and took appropriate action on the night to ensure the safety of the aggrieved whilst also ensuring the perpetrator was held to account for his actions.

“A member of the community has the right to commence private prosecutions and civil actions where appropriate.”