Domestic Violence

In domestic violence matters, the judicial procedures are different than other categories of infractions.

First, when police officers intervene in a conjugal violence event, they must submit their report to the Crown Prosecutor, who will then decide whether to authorize the file or not. This means that even if the spouse does not want to press charges, the police do not have any discretion whether or not to submit the file to the Prosecutor’s office.

This being said, an individual can be criminally charged even if the spouse did not want to file a complaint. Because of the frequency of domestic violence cases and the gravity of certain files, the Crown prosecutors want to make sure they are protecting the plaintiffs, even if they don’t want to go ahead with the case. For this reason, the State can decide to prosecute the defendant, even if the partner does not want to press charges and does not wish to testify in court.

In addition, once the defendant is placed under arrest, he will have conditions to respect during legal proceedings. This mainly involves an interdiction to communicate with the spouse and to be in their physical presence. Therefore, the defendant most likely has to move out of the house if the partners live together, until the end of the judicial procedures.

Rest assured, Me Dagenais can negotiate with the Prosecutor to modify these conditions during the legal procedures.