Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021

Factors relevant to residence and contact orders

35.  In the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, in Article 12A (residence and contact orders and domestic violence)—

(a) in paragraph (1), after “in favour of” insert

“—

(a) any person, the court shall have regard to any conviction of the person for a domestic abuse offence involving the child,

(b)” ,

(b) after paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a domestic abuse offence involving the child is—

(a) an offence under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 if—

(i) the offence is aggravated as provided for in section 9 of that Act, and

(ii) the aggravation of the offence relates to the child, or

(b) an offence of any kind (apart from one under section 1 of that Act) if—

(i) the offence is aggravated as provided for in section 15 of that Act, and

(ii) the child is not the person against whom the offence was committed but the aggravation of the offence relates to the child.”,

(c) in paragraph (2), for “paragraph (1)” substitute “paragraph (1)(b)”,

(d) in paragraph (3), after “Article 3” insert “(and in that paragraph neither sub-paragraph limits the effect of the other sub-paragraph)”.