Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 No. 2

PART 1 Domestic abuse: offence and aggravation

CHAPTER 1 Offence of domestic abuse

Course of abusive behaviour

The domestic abuse offence

1.—(1) A person (“A”) commits an offence if—

(a) A engages in a course of behaviour that is abusive of another person (“B”),

(b) A and B are personally connected to each other at the time, and

(c) both of the further conditions are met.

(2) The further conditions are—

(a) that a reasonable person would consider the course of behaviour to be likely to cause B to suffer physical or psychological harm, and

(b) that A—

(i) intends the course of behaviour to cause B to suffer physical or psychological harm, or

(ii) is reckless as to whether the course of behaviour causes B to suffer physical or psychological harm.

(3) The references in this section to psychological harm include fear, alarm and distress.

(4) The offence under this section is to be known as the domestic abuse offence.