DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - REPORTS AND INVESTIGATIONS

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Home Affairs, from 1990 to 1994, how many victims reported to the police incidents of physical violence or threats of physical violence from their family members and what proportion of these reported cases was investigated by the police.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Police began classifying seizable cases of domestic violence as a sub-category of seizable offences in 1993. The numbers of seizable cases involving domestic violence were 112 and 135 in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Police investigated all these cases.

For non-seizable cases, Police started to monitor cases of voluntary causing hurt in 1994. In 1994, 3,625 cases of voluntary causing hurt involving family members were reported to the Police. About half of these cases were followed-up by way of arrest, summons, warning or referral to other departments for assistance. For the remaining, the victims made the Police Report for record purposes.