To ask the Minister of Justice for her assessment of the effectiveness of non-molestation orders when perpetrators with an active order are allowed to work on family farms where victims reside.

A non-molestation order prohibits the party against whom it is made from “molesting” the party protected by the order. It is for a court to determine the terms of an order and whether any subsequent behaviour amounts to a breach of it.

Non-molestation orders are effective in that they provide victims with protection against a wide range of behaviours, including serious pestering and harassment, and in some cases they may prohibit specific acts. An order can also exclude the respondent from a defined area in which a dwelling-house is included, any other defined area, and any premises specified in the order, and this may be a way of providing additional protection to a victim.

A party who has obtained a non-molestation order and is concerned that they are not adequately protected by the terms of the order, may apply to the court to seek a variation.

Breach of a non-molestation order is a criminal offence punishable by a fine, imprisonment or both.

It is important to note that unless specifically provided for under the terms of the non-molestation order, it generally does not prohibit all forms of contact with the victim, or being in the same general vicinity as them, unless these actions are of themselves molesting.