Description

When a person against whom the protection order was made contravenes the order, the person who requires protection can go to the nearest police station to lodge a complaint against the respondent and make an affidavit to state what had happened.

The police officer shall then judge the danger in which the complainant appears to be and do either of the following:

• find:
  • reasonable grounds to suspect that respondent may harm the complainant, they will immediately arrest the respondent for allegedly having contravened the protection order
• that there are insufficient grounds for arresting the respondent (in other words, that they will not harm the complainant), they will immediately give the respondent a written notice to appear before the court for allegedly having contravened the protection order. 

Steps to follow

• Go to your nearest police station and produce the protection order that was made against the respondent.
• Complete Form 10: ffidavit regarding contravention of protection order to declare that the respondent has contravened a prohibition, condition, obligation or order contained in a protection order.
• Complete Form 11: Notice to appear before the court which instructs the respondent to appear before a court on a charge of allegedly having committed the offence. This form:
  • must contain the name, residential address, occupation or/and status of the respondent
  • must state the date and the time when the respondent must appear before court on a charge of allegedly having contravened a protection order and
  • must be signed by the police officer as proof that they have:
    • given the respondent the original notice to appear before court and
    • explained the importance of the notice to the respondent.
• The police officer will immediately forward a duplicate of the original notice to the clerk of the court. Showing the duplicate in court will be prima facie (sufficient) proof that the original had been given to the respondent. 

Legal framework

(Documents are provided in PDF format. To open PDF documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or higher installed on your computer.)

Domestic Violence Act, 1998 (Act 116 of 1998)

Service standard

When you lodge a complaint with police officers, they will immediately take your statement, which serves as an affidavit.

Cost

The service is free.

Forms to complete

(Forms are provided in PDF format. To open PDF documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or higher installed on your computer.)

• Form 10: Affidavit regarding contravention of protection order
• Form 11: Notice to appear before the court

Contact details