(1)  In this section –

family relationship has the same meaning as in the Family Violence Act 2004 ;

family violence has the same meaning as in the Family Violence Act 2004 ;

family violence offence has the same meaning as in the Family Violence Act 2004 ;

spouse or partner , of an accused person, means another person with whom the accused person is, or has been, in a family relationship;

unlawful family violence act means an act that constitutes a family violence offence whether committed before, on or after the commencement of this section.

(2)  A person who commits persistent family violence in relation to another person with whom the person is, or has been, in a family relationship is guilty of a crime.

Charge:  Persistent family violence.

(3)  An accused person is guilty of having committed an offence against subsection (2) if the accused person committed an unlawful family violence act in relation to his or her spouse or partner on at least 3 occasions.

(4)  For the purposes of subsection (3)  –

(a) it is not necessary to prove the dates on which any of the unlawful family violence acts were committed or the exact circumstances in which any of the unlawful family violence acts were committed; and

(b) an unlawful family violence act that was committed on any one of the occasions need not have been the same as the unlawful family violence act that was committed on each or any of the other occasions; and

(c) on a trial before a jury for an offence against subsection (2) , it is not necessary for each member of the jury to be satisfied that the unlawful family violence acts were committed on the same 3 occasions.

(5)  An indictment charging a person with having committed an offence against subsection (2)  –

(a) is to specify the particular period during which it is alleged that the accused person committed the unlawful family violence acts in relation to his or her spouse or partner; and

(b) is not to contain a separate charge that the accused committed an unlawful family violence act in relation to his or her spouse or partner during that period.

(6)  A reference in this section to an unlawful family violence act that is committed by a person in relation to his or her spouse or partner includes a reference to conduct that was, in relation to that spouse or partner, committed by the person outside this State if –

(a) the conduct was unlawful in the State, Territory or country in which it was committed and, if it had been committed in this State by the person in relation to his or her spouse or partner, the conduct would have been an unlawful family violence act; and

(b) at least one unlawful family violence act in relation to the spouse or partner was committed by the person in this State.

(7)  A Court sentencing a person for an offence against subsection (2) is to make findings in relation to either the nature or the character, or both the nature and the character, of the unlawful family violence acts committed and, in doing so, the Court is not required to ask any questions of the jury for the purposes of making those findings.

(8)  A prosecution for an offence against this section is not to be commenced without the written authority of the Director of Public Prosecutions.