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Harassment - help?

I wrote a short note a while ago about neighbours - about people 'fighing over the fence'. I said that in certain circumstances there may be elements of harassment. 

If you are being harassed you can get a restraining order to stop the behaviour.

When most people think about restraining orders they think of protection orders to protect somebody from domestic violence.

But help is also available for people harassed by strangers.

The Harassment Act 1997 provides protection for members of the public from harassment. If another person has harassed you at least twice in the last 12 months you can make the application.

Harassment can mean the person contacts you, does things like watching you or hanging around outside your place of work or home, following you in the street, stopping you, or doing other things that make you fear for your safety.

I had a case a few years ago where a neighbour was taking photos over the fence - the Judge found this was clearly a case of harassment.

Usually people will contact the police but the police will just say “without a restraining order there is nothing we can do – you need to get that order!”

A restraining order is obtained by making application to the District Court. An affidavit (written evidence) also needs to be filed. The application will be served on the person harassing you. If they decide to defend the application there will be a hearing, before a Judge, where you (or your lawyer) will ask questions of the other person and try and prove that there is a need for protection. If the Judge agrees, he or she will grant the order.

The judge needs to be satisfied that:

1. The behaviour amounts to ‘harassment’ – a pattern of behaviour against you [factual issue, not hard to prove]
2. The harassment is causing distress [not hard to prove], and would be distressing for any reasonable person [can be harder to prove]
3. The distress is serious enough to justify a court order [again, harder to prove]
4. The order is necessary to protect you from further harassment [if the Judge agrees with the above points, this will almost always be a foregone conclusion].

Once the restraining order has been made it is a criminal offence to breach it – if the person continues to harass you the police will arrest them. They can end up in prison.

Sometimes people are difficult to deal with but their behaviour would not constitute legal harassment – or justify an order being made. It is recommended that before you start proceedings to try and get a restraining order you take legal advice as your lawyer will be able to tell you if your situation is likely to result in an order being made.

If you require assistance with these types of matters please contact me: 4077099 or Graham@lawnorth.co.nz

• Posted By: Graham Day on Thu, 1st Sep 2016 @ 08:52:48

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