Can Mental Abuse Cause Injury In Domestic Violence Cases? Written by: Muhammad Faiz bin Hussin Shokri Bachelor of Shariah and Law (Hons.) (LL.B/LL.Bs) Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) 2013 Introduction When people talk about domestic violence, they are often referring to the physical abuse of a spouse or intimate partner. They would always picture battered women who have been physically assaulted by the men. Basically, physical abuse is defined as the use of physical force against someone in a way that injures or endangers that person1. Physical assault or battering is a crime, regardless if it is occurs inside or outside of the family. However, not all abusive relationships involve physical violence. Just because you are not battered and beaten does not mean you are not being abused. Many men and women suffer from emotional abuse, which is no less destructive. Unfortunately, emotional abuse is often minimized or overlooked, even by the person being abused. The emotional or mental abuse usually being referred to as something which does not leaves scars, bruises and bloods like what happens in physical injuries. It is invisible to the naked eye of human and difficult to be proven even before the court. In some cases, mental abuse generally involves such as repeated verbal abuse, harassment, confinement, and deprivation of physical, financial and personal resources. 1 Stanley Yeo, Neil Morgan and Chan Wing Cheong, Criminal Law in Malaysia and Singapore - 2nd Edition, 2011, Lexis Nexis.
Besides, mental abuse also can be happened as a result from the physical violence done by the perpetrator. The feeling of fear, scared and embarrassment from being severely beaten would always be hovering inside the mind of the victims and haunted them in their daily life. Does it only cover women? Domestic violence can be occurred to anyone. This kind of mental abuse does not confine only to the women in the house. It may also leads to a tragic reality where the children are also affected in both overt and subtle ways. What hurts the mother, hurts the children. When a mother is abused, the children may feel guilty that they cannot protect her, or that they are the cause of the strife. They may themselves be abused, or neglected while the mother attempts to deal with the trauma. Basically children would easily be mentally hurt when they see their parents being yelled at, pushed, or hit. They may feel confusion, stress, fear, shame, or think that they are the one who caused the problem. Children then will grow up learning that it is okay to hurt other people or let other people hurt them. Subsequently, it slowly develops into emotional problems2. Moreover, although majority of the cases in domestic violence usually touch on the violence against women and children, we should never be overlooked that section 2 of Domestic Violence Act also includes the husband or the male spouse. In certain cases, there are also situations where the husband has been treated violently by their wife