China News Service, March 21. According to the WeChat public account of the Xiangzhou District People's Court of Zhuhai City, on March 19, 2024, the Xiangzhou Court refused to execute the ruling because of repeated violations of the personal safety protection order, beating and threatening his ex-wife. The defendant Zhang was sentenced to eight months in prison.
This is the first case in the country where a court sentenced a person to a crime of refusing to comply with a personal safety protection order.
Violence that is indispensable even in divorce
In January 2015, Xiaoli and Zhang got married. The two raised a lovely daughter together. Xiaoli even quit her job and stayed at home to focus on taking care of her family.
During the marriage, the two parties had quarrels from time to time, and Zhang occasionally beat and scolded her.
In April 2019, the two divorced, but they did not leave home. The family of three still lived under one roof.
Xiaoli found a new job, and Zhang felt a little uncomfortable. He often checked Xiaoli's mobile phone, and even restricted Xiaoli from going out to work, and fistfights became frequent.
Xiaoli couldn't bear it and moved away with her children. Zhang chased her to the unit and beat, scolded and threatened her.
After several back and forths, Xiaoli made up her mind and applied to Xiangzhou Court for a personal safety protection order.
On October 13, 2023, the Xiangzhou Court issued a personal safety protection order: prohibiting Zhang from committing domestic violence such as beating and threatening Xiaoli; prohibiting Zhang from harassing, stalking, and contacting Xiaoli and her daughter.
Ignoring the ban and continuing to commit violence
After the protection order was issued, Zhang did not restrain himself.
One day in November 2023, Zhang went to Xiaoli's workplace to make a noise again. In order to avoid conflict, Xiaoli left in a colleague's car. Zhang chased her in a car. After forcing Xiaoli to stop, he took out a baseball bat from the car. He opened the car door and swung at Xiaoli, hitting her five or six times before stopping. His colleagues tried to dissuade her but were also injured.
Less than a month after Zhang signed the protection order, he committed violence again. The public security organs decisively detained Zhang for ten days and fined him. After being severely admonished by the court, Zhang wrote a letter of repentance.
But as soon as the front leg was free, Zhang started to threaten and intimidate the back leg again, and continued to send a large number of death threat text messages to Xiaoli, including photos of knives and screenshots of pesticide flow information.
Xiaoli was deeply frightened and had to seek help from the court again.
The Xiangzhou Court immediately sentenced Zhang to fifteen days of judicial detention.
Considering that Zhang ignored judicial authority, repeatedly violated the personal safety protection order, and refused to perform the prohibited matters determined in the effective ruling, the Xiangzhou Court transferred the clues of the case to the public security organs on suspicion of crime, and Zhang was arrested in January 2024.
Can do more than just judge
Zhang's case returned to Xiangzhou Court again, this time it was a criminal case.
"I think it's a family matter. It's normal for couples to quarrel and fight. As for those threats, they just want her to come back..." Zhang resisted and was confused.
After reviewing the papers, the first thing the judge thought of was "severe blows and severe punishments." However, considering that Zhang repeatedly ignored the court's injunction and was detained several times but failed to restrain his "fists and feet," compared with a After the verdict, Zhang needs to emotionally recognize and admit his mistakes and let go of the past.
"The prediction of whether the perpetrator will commit another crime cannot be separated from the examination of his past behavior." After carefully sorting out the case, the judge invited experts on psychology and domestic violence to conduct psychological evaluation and counseling on Xiaoli and her children. Based on this, the judge learned about and Evaluate Zhang’s growth environment, criminal motivations and personal danger.
In order to ensure that the punishment was just and worthy of the punishment, the judge went to the detention center twice to interrogate Zhang. Zhang finally shed tears of regret and realized that "domestic violence is not a family matter, and beating someone is wrong..."
Inside the home, not outside the law
On March 19, 2024, the Xiangzhou Court sentenced Zhang to eight months in prison for refusing to execute the ruling.
After the verdict was pronounced, the judge carried out serious court education to Zhang on the spot, "Every adult must be responsible for his or her own actions... Domestic violence is not outside the law within the home, even if it is cloaked in the guise of 'family' , in the name of 'love', its essence is still violence, injury, and crime... An unfortunate childhood takes a lifetime to heal. Dad's face deformed due to rage, and the fear that he may lose his mother at any time, should not be It is your responsibility as a father to care for your child's childhood memories and grow up with love and warmth... After this incident, I hope you will be wary and stop. A gentleman will change things day by day. On the contrary, if After you are released from prison, if you treat the law as child's play again and violate the prohibition, you will be punished with an iron fist and will not be tolerated!"
Judge interprets the law
A personal safety protection order is never a piece of light paper, but a heavy ruling and solid protection. Once made, it must be respected and implemented.
Article 12 of the "Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Personal Safety Protection Order Cases" implemented in August 2022 clearly stipulates that the respondent who violates the personal safety protection order may refuse to execute the judgment, be convicted and punished .
Zhang ignored the personal safety protection order issued by the court and repeatedly violently and intimidated his ex-wife, so he must be severely punished.
The life of the law lies in its implementation, and the value of the referee lies in its execution. The protection order needs to grow "sharp teeth" in order to bite the "hard bones" of domestic violence!