Photo: GettyPolice have charged almost five people a day with strangling or suffocating their partners since a new family violence law came into force criminalising such acts in December. In a bid to curb family violence, new legislation was introduced to make strangulation and suffocation a criminal offence. The change was part of the Family Violence Amendment Act, replacing the Domestic Violence Act. "The physical abuse started three years in, by then we were super entrenched in each other's lives, we were living together. Experts say, and statistics show that the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence is shortly after they leave.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 27, 2019 20:37 UTC