'Exceptional' measures helping abuse victim testify in family court cheered by B.C. advocates

Advocates are applauding the "exceptional" accommodations provided to a domestic violence victim testifying in a recent B.C. family law case, saying they should be more widely available to survivors facing their abusers in court.

Earlier this year, Amanda Kroetsch was permitted to testify behind a screen during her divorce trial so she wouldn't have to face Nima Rahmany, the ex who previously pleaded guilty to assaulting her. 

After the first day, when Kroetsch's lawyer said it was still too distressing for her to testify with Rahmany in the courtroom, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Neena Sharma arranged for him to watch the testimony by video from another room in the building.

Sharma described the accommodations as "exceptional" and "highly unusual" as she granted them.

"It is important that litigants feel that they can put their case forward, and she's telling me that she's having grave difficulties doing that, so then we need to find a way to address that. It has no impact on my findings at all," Sharma said during a Feb. 7 hearing.

Representatives of organizations that support domestic violence survivors say they're unaware of similar accommodations ever being granted in a B.C. court to a party in a family dispute, and they hope someday these measures aren't seen as exceptional.

"I've never heard of it," said Kim Hawkins, executive director of Rise Women's Legal Centre.

"I think that makes all the sense in the world, if it can be accommodated. I think there's been a real failure to understand how stressful it is for people to sit in the same room as someone who has been violent or abusive or coercively controlling."

Hawkins said the details will likely end up in Rise's training for lawyers so they know what they can request.

Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women's Support Services (BWSS), described the arrangements made for Kroetsch's testimony as a "first" in B.C.'s family court system. 

"We think it's a necessary option," MacDougall said.

She added that a BWSS support worker who was in the court with Kroetsch raised the idea of a screen, an option that is sometimes available in criminal cases. 

"We absolutely want to ensure that vulnerable parties and witnesses receive the same protection that they would receive if they are in criminal court," she said.

Proceedings in the trial concluded earlier this month. In August, Sharma ruled against Kroetsch, finding that she was not in a marriage-like relationship with Rahmany and therefore was not entitled to spousal support or division of property.