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A woman reports an assault. He is arrested. By evening he is home, and often angrier than before.

Most women read this as proof that the complaint failed and that the police did nothing. Usually that is not what happened, and understanding the difference changes what you do next.

What bail actually is

Bail is release while a matter is still being investigated or decided. It is not a finding that nothing happened, it is not the case being closed, and it is not a decision that you were disbelieved.

It is the ordinary position for most offences, and the presumption of innocence applies to everybody, including to people who are eventually convicted. A man being released on bail is the normal course of events rather than a failure.

What matters much more than whether he was released is whether the case is being pursued, whether there are conditions, and what happens if he breaches them.

Bail is free

This is the single most useful thing on this page.

Bail at a police station is not supposed to be paid for. Signs saying so are displayed in many stations. If money is being demanded — from him, from his family, or from you — that is not a fee, whatever it is called.

Women are sometimes asked to pay to keep a man in custody, or told that the case will progress if something is provided. Do not pay. Ask for the Divisional Police Officer, ask for the name and number of the officer involved, and say plainly that you understand bail is free.

If that goes nowhere, complaints can be made to the Police Complaint Response Unit, to the state Police Command, to the Police Service Commission, or to the National Human Rights Commission. Saying that you intend to do so is sometimes enough.

Conditions, and why they matter more than the release

Bail usually comes with conditions, and this is where you should focus your attention.

Ask specifically for a condition that he does not contact you and does not come to your home, your workplace or the children’s school. It will not necessarily be offered, and it is frequently granted when asked for. Ask for it in writing, and ask for a copy.

Find out who the surety is — often a relative or an employer — because a surety has an interest in his compliance and is a person who can be told when he breaches.

Then ask the question that matters: what do I do, and who do I call, if he breaches this? Get a name and a number, and write it down. A condition nobody will enforce is a piece of paper.

The days after release

Treat this as a period of raised risk rather than a return to normal. He has been arrested because of something you did, which is precisely the situation in which retaliation happens.

1. Do not be alone at home the first night if you can avoid it.
2. Tell somebody that he has been released, and arrange to be in contact over the following days.
3. Expect contact — from him, and more often from his family, wanting it withdrawn. Decide your answer in advance.
4. Write down every approach, with the date, the time and what was said. Pressure to withdraw a complaint is itself relevant and it is frequently an offence in its own right.
5. Do not meet him to discuss it, and do not attend a family meeting about it without advice.
6. Consider a protection order. It is a separate process from the criminal case and it can run alongside it. What applying involves is set out separately, and the two together are considerably stronger than either alone.

Keeping the case alive

Cases go quiet, and they go quiet because nobody follows them up.

Get the case reference or file number, and the name of the investigating officer. Ask what the next step is and when. Ask whether the file is going to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and when.

Then follow up, politely and regularly, and go in person rather than telephoning. A complainant who appears every few weeks with a written note of the last conversation gets a different level of attention from one who waits to be contacted.

Take somebody with you. This makes more difference than it should. What to expect at a station covers the wider picture, including what to do about the response that this is a family matter.

If you are being pressed to withdraw

This is extremely common and it comes from every direction at once — his family, sometimes your own, sometimes an officer suggesting it would be simpler.

Things worth knowing. A serious criminal matter is not, in principle, yours to withdraw at will; it is a matter for the state, and you are a complainant rather than the prosecutor. Being told that everything depends on you is often a way of transferring pressure onto you.

An agreement signed at a family meeting can be produced later as evidence that the matter was settled, so do not sign anything on the day. And if a counter-allegation appears shortly after your complaint, that is a recognised tactic rather than a coincidence — what to do about it is set out separately.

If he was never arrested at all

Also common. Ask for the DPO, ask for the gender desk, take somebody with you, and put your complaint in writing with a copy you keep and a stamped acknowledgement.

A written complaint that has been formally received is much harder to lose than a conversation, and the acknowledgement is the document that matters. Where nothing moves, the complaint routes above are real and they are used.

Questions people ask

If you need help now

If you are in immediate danger, call 112. To talk to HealBridge, email us at hello@healbridge.org, or use the form on our contact page. Every page on this site has a Quick Exit button at the top right, and pressing the letter E three times does the same thing.