Domestic violence

Family violence seen as NZ-wide
By DEBBIE JAMIESON - The Press | Thursday, 1 February 2007

No part of New Zealand is free from devastating domestic violence, a judge says.

Judge Mary O'Dwyer said when people saw the movie Once Were Warriors they related the domestic violence to parts of the North Island.

"But I have to say that in the four years I've sat as a judge in Dunedin and serving Central Otago, I see that violence and I see it day in and day out in court," she told lawyers and agencies to mark the first sitting of the Family Court in Queenstown.

"It's not restricted to the North Island or particular communities or ethnic groups. It is present."

Statistics showed that a high proportion of serious crime was related to domestic violence.

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