South Australian Current Acts

CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION ACT 1935 - SECT 20A

20A—Choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic setting

        (1)         A person who is, or has been, in a relationship with another person and chokes, suffocates or strangles that other person, without that other person's consent, is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 7 years.

        (2)         However, conduct that is justified or excused by law cannot amount to an offence against this section.

        (3)         Two people will be taken to be "in a relationship" for the purposes of this section if—

            (a)         they are married to each other; or

            (b)         they are domestic partners; or

            (c)         they are in some other form of intimate personal relationship in which their lives are interrelated and the actions of 1 affects the other; or

            (d)         1 is the child, stepchild or grandchild, or is under the guardianship, of the other (regardless of age); or

            (e)         1 is a child, stepchild or grandchild, or is under the guardianship, of a person who is or was formerly in a relationship with the other under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) (regardless of age); or

            (f)         1 is a child and the other is a person who acts in loco parentis in relation to the child; or

            (g)         1 is a child who normally or regularly resides or stays with the other; or

            (h)         they are brothers or sisters or brother and sister; or

                  (i)         they are otherwise related to each other by or through blood, marriage, a domestic partnership or adoption; or

            (j)         they are related according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules or are both members of some other culturally recognised family group; or

            (k)         1 is the carer (within the meaning of the Carers Recognition Act 2005 ) of the other.

        (4)         If—

            (a)         a jury is not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a charge of an offence against this section has been established; but

            (b)         the Judge has instructed the jury that it is open to the jury on the evidence to find the defendant guilty of an offence of assault; and

            (c)         the jury is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offence of assault has been established,

the jury may return a verdict that the defendant is not guilty of the offence charged but is guilty of assault.